Ice Dragon Jedi
by Alasse Earfalas
Summary: When Toshiro is sent to investigate a new dimension right after returning from Karakura Town, he winds up in the Jedi Temple. His power is soon noticed by the Sith, prompting Yoda to teach Toshiro about the dangers of anger and the Dark Side. HitsuHina
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! ^_^ This is a re-post of a story I started here: http: //boards. theforce. net/the_saga/b10476/29804993 (remove the spaces when you copy & paste it into the address bar)

This story is borderline K+/T, so just to be safe, I put the rating as T. It also has a VERY prominent HitsuHina theme.

A quick note: This fanfic was originally written for a SW fanfic website (see link above), and thus contains many long-winded explanations of the Bleach universe. So if you are already well-versed in the Bleach universe, I apologize in advance. :)

Enjoy, everyone! =D

**Chapter 1**

_Why is it always me?_ Toshiro Hitsugaya thought in disgruntlement as he sulked towards the Shinigami Research Institute. _Why don't any of the other captains get stuck with any of these stupid side-missions? Is it because of my age? It better not be._ It was times like these that made him loathe being so dang young. He felt like none of the other captains really saw him as their equal. For some reason, he was inferior to them. And it was all because he hadn't gone through puberty yet, and probably wouldn't for quite a long time.

"Aren't you excited, Captain?" Rangiku Matsumoto, who was Toshiro's Vice-captain (and was also probably about twice his age), was beaming an over-excited-fan-girl grin at him, which was typical of her, and didn't annoy Toshiro nearly as much now as it used to. "You get to go explore a whole new dimension all by yourself! I'm so jealous! I wish they'd let me go with you, there's probably tons of shopping malls, and-"

"Idiot," Toshiro spat. "You have to stay here so you can manage the squad while I'm gone." His tone softened the tiniest bit. "The Research Institute isn't entirely certain how they're going to get me back. I could be stuck in this dimension for quite awhile."

"Well, that just means that you'll get some R & R!" Rangiku patted him enthusiastically on the back. "That's just what you need, Captain! You've been working so much recently, you seriously need a break!"

Toshiro decided that he was now officially annoyed with her. "_I've_ been working so much because _you_ haven't been doing your share of the paperwork!"

"Hitsugaya-kun!"

Toshiro stopped at the sweet sound of that oh-so-familiar voice. He turned, and sure enough, his bright turquoise eyes were met with the one image they longed for more than anything else. "Hinamori," he said, honestly surprised to see her up and about so early. And that reminded him. His eyebrows furrowed. "What are you doing up at this time of day?" he scolded. "You need to be resting! I told you to lose the panda-eyes, didn't I?"

Momo Hinamori, a.k.a. the only person in existence (excluding his grandmother and the other captains) who could get away with calling him anything other than Captain Hitsugaya, stopped short at this unexpected reprisal. "I-I have been resting!" she insisted. "I just heard that you were going away somewhere on a special mission and that you might be gone for a long time, so I thought that it would be nice of me to stop by before you left to say goodbye!"

The white-haired prodigy struggled to suppress his pleasured smirk. _She's so dang cute when she rants like that,_ he thought.

"Hinamori?" Rangiku asked, obviously surprised to see her fellow Vice-captain up and about. "You're awake already?"

Momo smiled in her characteristically innocent, genuinely sweet way. "Mm-hm," she nodded. "I woke up while you and Hitsugaya-kun were in Karakura Town."

"Really?" Rangiku glanced at her Captain. "You should've called us, you know," she said to Momo. "I'm sure-"

"I did!" Momo insisted yet again. "I spoke to Hitsugaya-kun over the…" she struggled to remember what it was called for a moment, then just gave up and resorted to her only other option. "…over that big TV thing!"

Toshiro winced. He did _not_ want to discuss what had been said during the latter half of that conversation with Momo. "We're wasting time," he said gruffly. "I've got to get to the Research Institute." He swiftly turned and started heading in that direction.

"W-wait, Hitsugaya-kun!" Momo trotted up to her childhood friend. She was between Rangiku and Toshiro in both height and age; she was a teenager, and was about a head taller than Toshiro and about a head shorter than Rangiku. "Can I come with you?" she asked a bit sheepishly.

Toshiro shrugged, pretending not to care. "Sure, if you really want to. It's probably just going to be boring, though." In truth, he was glad she was coming. Heck, he was glad that she even thought to come in the first place. After all, this new dimension was entirely unknown territory. There was no telling how dangerous it might be. The truth was, there was a fair possibility that he might never come back. He wanted to be with her as much as possible before then.

Toshiro stood in front of the place that would soon become the gateway to this newfound dimension. The clothes he was wearing, his zanpakuto (which was safely in its sheath that was strapped across his back), and an inter-dimension cell phone were the only material possessions he was taking with him. His instructions were simple: gather as much information as he could about this dimension for as long as he could, then return as soon as the Research Institute figured out exactly how they were going to bring him back. He was to report his findings in via the cell phone as often as possible.

"Matsumoto," Toshiro said in his usual I'm-the-Captain-so-you'd-better-darn-well-do-what-I-say voice.

"Yes?" his Vice-captain responded respectfully.

"I'll try to call as soon as I get there, but if I don't call within 24 hours, I want you to call me."

"Yes, sir."

He was quiet for a moment. He thought about Momo. She was standing only a few meters behind him. He was worried about her safety. A lot of nasty things had happened to her within the last couple months. In fact, she'd almost gotten herself killed. He had always felt obligated to protect her, but now, after everything that had happened, that desire to protect her felt like it had tripled. What if something happened to her while he was stuck in this dimension? What if she actually _did_ die this time?

"Hitsugaya-kun…"

Toshiro was startled out of his daze (though he didn't show so much as a trace of it). He looked up to see Momo suddenly standing right next to him, her brown eyes downcast, and her hands gently folded in front of her.

He was trying desperately to read her body language. "What?" he asked, in a tone that clearly meant, "Oh come on, just spit it out already."

She lifted her gaze to match his. She looked like she was on the brink of tears. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she half-tackled-half-fell on him, wrapping her arms around him and obviously struggling to stop herself from bawling.

Toshiro's eyes shot wide open in utter surprise. He couldn't remember the last time he'd hugged someone, but he was sure that it was sometime before he'd even entered the Shinigami Academy. Everyone pretty much knew that he didn't like to be touched. "Hina-"

"You're… you're coming back… right, Shiro-chan?"

_Shiro-chan…_ He used to _hate_ that nick-name. But the last two times she had called him that (this time included), it had rubbed him a completely different way than it used to. Shiro-chan meant she cared about him. It meant she still considered them to be friends. It meant that he was special to her (after all, she hadn't given anyone else little nick-names like that). But perhaps most importantly, Shiro-chan meant that, in at least some small way, she needed him.

He sighed. "Idiot," he scolded, his voice just barely soft enough for Momo to tell that he wasn't really annoyed with her. "Of course I'm coming back. I'm a captain, remember?"

Momo let go of him and wiped her watery eyes. "You're right," she said through a forced smile.

Rangiku watched this whole incident through a puzzled look. _He… he __**let**__ her hug him? What's with that? He always gets annoyed and pushes me off when __**I**__ try to hug him!_

"Captain Hitsugaya."

Toshiro turned to see that the Vice-captain of the Research Institute had *finally* returned. "Is it ready now?" he asked flatly.

"Yes," the young man replied. "My deepest apologies for making you wait."

Sincere, deep, highly respectful apologies like that were just one of the many quirks that Toshiro thoroughly enjoyed about being a captain. Even though he was still a kid, pretty much everyone who was a lower rank than him was expected to give him the same amount of respect that they'd give to an adult.

"We can open the gate as soon as your ready," the young man said, "but we can only keep it open for a few minutes."

Toshiro nodded. He reached into his haori and pulled out a small, folded strip of paper. "Matsumoto," he called officially as he held the paper out, signaling her to step forward and take it from him.

Rangiku was completely surprised by this gesture. _Captain's…?_ She obediently did as he implied, then unfolded the strip and read it to herself. Her surprise melted into understanding as she read the single, four-word command: "Take care of Momo." She folded it back up. "Yes, sir."

"I'm ready now," Toshiro said officially. "Tell them to open the gate."

"Yes, sir." The young man trotted to an adjacent room, then began shouting orders at his subordinates.

Toshiro stood perfectly still as the newly constructed gateway to the newly discovered dimension opened in front of him. He had no idea what kind of realm separated Soul Society from this dimension, but was soon pleasantly surprised to see that, as far as he could tell, it was a short realm that could be easily and quickly traveled through. He stepped up to the edge of the gate, then set one foot on the other side of the opening to test the pathway's structural integrity. Then, assured that it could easily hold more than ten times his weight, he darted off, leaving the familiarity of Soul Society behind, and pressing on towards a new and uncertain world.

The passageway was completely black, and looked, in essence, like a tunnel made of black glass suspended in space. At the end of the tunnel, Toshiro could see a faint glow, which vaguely reminded him of what a large city looked like if you approached it from above. He also noticed that, as he got closer to the glow, the walls of the tunnel became more transparent, and he could gradually see what looked like stars and a number of… machines? Vehicles? Floating buildings? Anyway, they were gargantuan, man-made things that were floating in what was more and more obviously outer space. As he looked ahead, he deduced that the glow at the end of the tunnel was probably the atmosphere of a planet. He let out a silent sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was to die in the vacuum of space.

He decided to use Shunpo to increase his speed as he approached the planet's atmosphere. The tunnel was almost completely transparent now, and Toshiro was worried that it might end a little sooner than he had anticipated. The added momentum from the Shunpo would hopefully push him over any gaps there might be between the tunnel and the inside of the planet's atmosphere.

Fortunately, the tunnel didn't disperse until after Toshiro was within the safe levels of the planet's atmosphere. He braced himself perfectly for the pull of gravity, pulling his arms back and using the tension of the spirit particles in the air to control the speed of his descent. _So far, so go-_

A large object suddenly crashed into him at an astonishingly high velocity. His body tumbled clumsily over the top of it, having completely lost his composure. Before he could fully grasp what had just happened, another object of the same sort and traveling at the same frightening speed crashed into him. Toshiro began to plummet, his descent constantly interrupted by countless collisions with these strange UFOs. He swiftly began to lose consciousness, and by the time he crashed onto the planet's paved surface, he was out cold.

l***l

"Master!"

Obi-Wan was already looking in the direction Anakin was pointing. He almost couldn't believe his eyes. "What in the Force…" He started running towards the person (or thing, he still wasn't quite sure which it was) that had just literally fallen right out of the sky, and had collided with several speeders on its way down. As he rounded the corner of a deserted street, he saw what looked like a young boy (probably about Anakin's age) with white hair, very strange clothes, and a long sword in a dark blue sheath on his back. Obi-Wan quickly knelt by the unconscious juvenile skydiver, checking first for signs of life, and then for any life-threatening injuries. To his amazement (and great relief), the boy was breathing fine, and didn't appear to have any serious injuries.

"Is he okay?" Anakin asked as he stood by his Master.

"Miraculously, yes," Obi-Wan replied. "He might have some internal injuries, though." He pulled out his comlink. "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said urgently. "I have a young boy who needs transportation to the Temple's medical facility immediately."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Obi-Wan stared at the medical droid in utter bewilderment. He must've misheard something. Either that, or the droid's circuitry was faulty. There was just no way. "What do you mean, you can't find a species match for his DNA?"

"I believe that is what I said, Master Kenobi," the droid replied in its electronic voice. "I searched through all of the records and databases that are available to me, but none of the DNA sequences matched his enough to classify him as a member of any species."

Obi-Wan was still uncertain. "You're sure?"

"Oh yes, Master Kenobi. I can definitely classify his species as near-human, but beyond that, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."

Obi-Wan sighed, then turned his head to look at the sleeping, white-haired boy. What in the Force was going on? First this kid survived a freefall through Coruscant traffic during rush hour with only minor internal bruising and a blackout, and now his DNA can't be matched to _any_ known species in the galaxy?

He stepped up to the boy's bedside. As he did so, he noticed that the air got gradually cooler with each step he took closer to the boy. It wasn't the first time he'd noticed that, either. This boy was… _strange_… for some reason. The Force was obviously very strong with him, but the way it radiated from him felt different from anyone else the Jedi Knight had ever encountered.

"There you are, Obi-Wan," a familiar voice croaked from behind him. "Been looking for you, I have."

Obi-Wan turned to see the Grand Master Yoda in the doorway, smiling as he floated in his hover chair. "Master Yoda," he said with a respectful nod.

Yoda returned the nod, then shifted his attention towards the sleeping boy. "So, him, this is?" he asked curiously as he moved his hover chair in for a better look.

"Yes," Obi-Wan confirmed. "He's been in here since yesterday."

"Hmm." Yoda said nothing for a few moments as he studied the young boy. He had instantly picked up on the same cooling phenomenon that Obi-Wan had. "Strange," he muttered. His old curiosity began to resurface when he noted the difference in the way the Force radiated from this boy. _Hmm… I wonder…_ As gently and discreetly as he could, Yoda reached out to the boy's mind with the Force, and barely, lightly touched it.

The boy stirred in his sleep.

Yoda stayed silent for another short moment. "A midi-chlorian count, did you take?" he asked quietly.

"I thought about it," Obi-Wan replied, "but I wanted to wait until you saw him first."

Yoda nodded. His eyes were drawn towards the small table where the boy's sword and sleeveless outer cloak lay. The cloak was white on the outside and forest green on the inside, and had two distinct black designs on the outside of it. The first design consisted of alternating vertical lines and dots that ran along the bottom of the cloak. The second design was a large symbol on the back of the cloak. The symbol looked like a slightly squished diamond with each of the four corners colored in. Inside the diamond was an upright cross with arms of equal length. The cross almost looked like it had been painted on.

Yoda then shifted his attention to the boy's sword. The hilt was light blue, and the guard was in the shape of a four-pointed star. Other than that, it looked pretty much like a typical long sword from ancient times. However, it was obvious to both Obi-Wan and Yoda that this sword was far from typical. The boy's cold presence seemed to surround and penetrate the sword, and it felt almost as if the sword had been created by the boy's presence itself.

"His midi-chlorian count, you will take," Yoda said as he turned to leave. "Tell the rest of the Council of this, I will. May the Force be with you."

"And with you," Obi-Wan replied as he watched the door close behind Yoda. "Well, you heard him," Obi-Wan told the medical droid. "Use the samples you have to check his midi-chlorian count."

"Yes, Master Kenobi."

Obi-Wan turned back towards the boy as the droid exited the room. He studied his clothes for a moment. The boy was wearing two visible layers of loose robes: the inner layer was white, and the outer layer was black. There was also a white sash tied around the boy's waist that was apparently there to hold his pants up. His feet were wearing white socks and strange, flat sandals that were tied in place by a long piece of twine that was attached to the sandals. _Even his clothes are strange,_ Obi-Wan thought as he turned to leave.

Suddenly, a loud, electronic beeping noise penetrated the room. It sounded very similar to a comlink ringing, and appeared to be coming from the boy's outer cloak. Obi-Wan walked over to the cloak, pulled out the strange-looking comlink, then paused for a moment, pondering whether or not to take the call. He eventually decided to take it, reasoning that whoever was calling would likely be able to explain who this kid was.

He opened the comlink and looked at the screen, expecting to see the face of the caller on the display. Instead, he saw strange, unfamiliar characters on a white background. His eyebrows furrowed, part of him wondering if this really was, in fact, some sort of comlink. "Hello?"

There was a short pause. "Who is this?" a female voice demanded.

Obi-Wan was surprised at how quiet her voice had been. _The speakers on this comlink must be getting old,_ he thought as he put the device up to his ear. "My apologies," he said politely. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Are you trying to reach a young, white-haired boy?"

"Yes," the woman replied in a suspicious tone. "Where is he?"

"Well, he's unconscious at the moment," Obi-Wan replied, trying to sound as comforting as possible. "Are you his mother?"

Another pause. "His _mother_?" the woman yelled into the phone.

Apparently, he'd said something terribly wrong.

l***l

Toshiro was jolted awake by the sound of his cell phone ringing. It took him a few seconds to wake up enough to get his eyes to open, but when he did, he was startled to find that he wasn't in his room. _Where in the…_

Suddenly, it all came back to him: the new dimension, the glass-like tunnel, the high-speed objects smashing into him as he fell.

His cell phone stopped ringing sooner than it should have. Toshiro turned see that a young man with brown hair had answered it, and was obviously a little confused as to how to use it. _Holy crap,_ Toshiro thought as he massaged his throbbing forehead. _It's been 24 hours already?_

Toshiro listened to the young man (who's name was apparently Obi-Wan Kenobi) as he spoke to Rangiku on the phone, and was extremely grateful to find that they spoke the same language. He was thinking about pretending to still be asleep and just letting this Obi-Wan person deal with his annoying Vice-captain, when the young man asked one of the few questions that was strictly taboo with both Rangiku and Toshiro – it was taboo with Rangiku because, although she was a full-blown woman, she was a fairly young woman, and detested being called old or anything that implied that she was old (like being Toshiro's mom); it was taboo with Toshiro because it implied that Rangiku was in charge of Toshiro, when in fact, it was very much the other way around.

Toshiro almost had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from chuckling at Rangiku's reaction to Obi-Wan's innocent question. _Stupid Matsumoto,_ he thought as he slowly sat up. He observed the young man silently for a few more seconds. "Here, give me the phone," he yawned.

Obi-Wan was obviously startled to see Toshiro awake, let alone sitting up and asking for his phone. "Oh, um, ma'am?" he said, again trying to be polite.

"_Ma'am_?" Rangiku yelled. "Just how old do you think I am? Don't you know how rude that is…!"

"Give me the phone," Toshiro said, slowly and deliberately.

Apparently having given up on his own efforts to calm her down, Obi-Wan handed the phone to Toshiro without another word.

"SHUT UP," Toshiro commanded as soon as the phone was in his possession. "You freakin' woke me up, Matsumoto!"

She gasped. "CAPTAIN!"

Toshiro already had the phone a good decimeter away from his ear in anticipation of her insanely loud, way-over-excited greeting.

"I thought you were unconscious?" Rangiku asked at a much more tolerable decibel.

"I _was_, idiot," Toshiro barked. He sighed in annoyance. "I lost consciousness practically the same time I arrived, and I just now came to. I don't even really know what happened yet." He rubbed his forehead again. "I'll call you back in few minutes, after I figure out what happened."

"Okay, Captain!"

Toshiro closed the cell phone, then set it down and rubbed his face with both hands. "Sorry about that," he apologized to Obi-Wan. "She's normally not that rude; you just happened to say all the wrong things. I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya, by the way."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," he replied, obviously still trying to sort out what had just happened.

The door opened, and a boy who looked about Toshiro's age walked in. "Mast-" His eyes caught a hold of Toshiro, who was now wide awake. "Oh, hi!" he said cheerfully as he walked up to Toshiro's bed. "I'm Anakin Skywalker."

_Oh great,_ Toshiro thought as the stomach-lurch that always accompanied meeting overly-friendly kids who looked his age made its scheduled appearance. It wasn't so much the similarity in age-appearance that got to him as it was the way they just automatically assumed that he knew how to act his age. Problem was, he honestly had no clue how to act his age. He'd been a captain for so long that he'd pretty much forgotten how to be a kid. Adults and teens weren't so much of a problem; they all just assumed that he had really good manners, and was more mature than most kids his age (which was entirely true). But kids…

He swallowed. "I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya," he replied with a slight nod.

"Are you feeling alright?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Um, yeah," Toshiro said as he rubbed his forehead yet again. "My head hurts a little, but other than that, I'm fine. What _were_ those things?"

Obi-Wan sent him an inquiring look. "You mean the things you collided with when you fell yesterday?" he asked.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah."

"They were speeders," Obi-Wan replied, obviously a little surprised that Toshiro hadn't been able to figure it out.

Toshiro's face donned the classic dear-in-the-headlights look. "Speeders?"

Anakin's jaw dropped. "You don't know what speeders are?" he asked in disbelief.

Toshiro gave him one of his famous split-second ice-glares. They only lasted for a split-second because that was usually all the time it took to shut the person up. Well, that, and Toshiro had a bad habit of reacting before he thought things through (especially with kids who looked his age). Fortunately, though, it only took him about a split-second to catch and correct himself. "I'm not from here," he managed to get out with his eyes closed and his hands involuntarily clenching the edge of the bed in annoyance.

"Well, where _are_ you from, then?" Anakin asked in innocent curiosity.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan softly reprimanded, having apparently picked up on Toshiro's irritation. His demeanor then softened a bit. "Why don't you step outside for a little while?"

"But I just got here!"

"I know," Obi-Wan replied, "but I think it would be best for all of us if you just stepped outside for a few minutes."

Anakin sighed. "Okay," he said dejectedly as he moped out of the room.

"My apologies," Obi-Wan said to Toshiro once the door closed behind Anakin. "He tends to be a bit more inquisitive than he should."

Toshiro was able to relax now that Anakin had left the room. "Meh, don't worry about it," he said as he scratched the back of his head. "So, what are these 'speeders'?"

"They're vehicles," Obi-Wan explained. It didn't show much, but he was still trying to figure out just how it was possible that this boy had no clue what a speeder was.

Toshiro's eyes widened. "Vehicles?" he asked in amazement. "At that speed, and in mid-air?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "You collided with several of them when you fell yesterday," he said informatively. "It's a miracle you even survived."

Toshiro looked at Obi-Wan for a moment. "Are you the one who brought me here?" he asked flatly.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes."

Toshiro gave him a slight bow of the head. "Thank you," he said politely. Then, with that same air of respect in his voice, he asked, "Would you mind stepping out for a minute? I have to call Matsumoto back before she freaks out again."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Of course. Let me know if you need anything."

Toshiro waited until the door had completely closed behind Obi-Wan before he dialed Rangiku's number. _This place should definitely prove to be interesting,_ he thought as he waited for her to pick up the phone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Toshiro walked behind Obi-Wan as he was lead down large hallways to a place called the High Council Chamber. From the way Obi-Wan had talked about it, Toshiro had deduced that they were basically on their way to this dimension's version of a captain's meeting. That really allowed him to relax. He had grown very comfortable with dealing with those of a high rank (being a high rank himself and all), and was actually looking forward to this meeting. Hopefully, he'd get to learn just as much about this dimension as this Jedi High Council would learn about his.

He hadn't been interrogated much by Obi-Wan, which was nice. It was a great relief to find how hospitable these people were, especially with all the worries he'd had before. Of course, he was well aware that there might still be dangers that he just hadn't encountered yet, but knowing that he was at least safe for the time being was still a good feeling.

As they walked through the halls, Toshiro was doing one of the things that he loved to do best: observing his surroundings. The very first thing he noticed was that there was a _very_ wide variety of "species", as Obi-Wan had called them. Although nearly everyone in Soul Society had a pretty much human appearance, there were a few exceptions (like Captain Komamura and a few people from the Research Institute, for instance) that helped to soften Toshiro's shock at the way some of these species looked.

At last they came to the door of the High Council Chamber. Obi-Wan asked Toshiro to wait outside for a minute while he spoke to the Council. Toshiro respectfully complied; there were tons of little etiquette rules like this back at Soul Society.

As he patiently waited for Obi-Wan to return, he again found himself inspecting the "waiting room" he was in. There was one thing in particular that especially caught his eye: a series of characters printed above the door. He had no idea what they said, but for some reason, his curiosity was just eating at him. He looked around for someone or something that might help him decipher it. Soon he spotted a droid standing in one of the corners of the room. Now, droids were one concept that had really thrown Toshiro for a loop. Here were these moving, speaking things that seemed to be at least as intelligent (if not more) than people, and yet, they had absolutely no soul whatsoever. They were just machines. Yeah. Talk about _weird_.

"Hey," Toshiro said, feeling a little strange about talking to an object.

"Yes?" the droid responded.

"Could you read what's written above the door there?"

"Certainly." He (or she, or it, or whatever the heck you were supposed to refer to these things as) turned to face the door, then read it aloud.

_There is no emotion; there is peace.  
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.  
There is no passion; there is serenity.  
There is no death; there is the Force._

Toshiro listened with interest as the words were read. _That sounds like Captain Kuchiki's personal code of conduct,_ he thought with a silent chuckle. _A policy like that wouldn't last for two seconds for the rest of Soul Society, though._

The door opened. "The Council is ready to see you now," Obi-Wan said.

Toshiro nodded and followed Obi-Wan inside. The High Council Chamber was large, circular, and domed, with windows lining the rounded walls that spanned nearly from floor to ceiling. With the wide variety of different species Toshiro had seen on the trip here, he wasn't surprised to find that the Council was diversified in this respect as well.

What _did_ surprise him was that, even though he'd never been to this dimension before and hadn't even known about it until two days ago, there was a strong reiatsu in the room that he _recognized_.

He had entered the room with what he hoped had come across as an air of humble confidence. As soon as he'd felt that reiatsu, however, he'd stopped dead in his tracks, and his eyes had locked onto the being that the reiatsu belonged to. These actions weren't voluntary, mind you – he was just flabbergasted out of his mind.

He found himself staring at a short, green creature with long ears and three-fingered hands. He _knew_ he'd felt that creature's reiatsu before. But _where_? _When_? It didn't make any sense! If he'd never met this person before, then how…?

The green being smiled warmly at him. That was creepy beyond all means of explanation. Not because of the way he looked or because he'd never met Toshiro before, but because the way he smiled and gazed at Toshiro reminded him of his dear granny. It was a smile and a look that made him feel comfortable in a rather uncomfortable way.

"Visited you, I did, while unconscious, you were," the little green man said. "Perhaps that is why recognize my presence, you do."

Had Toshiro been more of a naturally expressive person, his jaw would've dropped to the floor. "What the-! How did-?"

"We can see your thoughts," a tall, dark-skinned human man said flatly.

Toshiro blinked. "You can…" He stared at them for a few more seconds, then sighed quickly and lightly as everything fell into place in his mind. He may have never seen or even really heard of mind-reading before, but with the unfathomably wide variety of special abilities he'd encountered throughout his career as a Shinigami, it didn't take much effort for him to accept this new ability as fact.

"Where are you from, exactly?" the dark-skinned human asked in the same flat tone.

"Well…" Toshiro wasn't sure if these people even knew what an alternate dimension _was_. He decided it best to ask them. "Do you know what alternate dimensions are?" he asked as respectfully as he could.

The Council members exchanged glances. The little green man's ears raised slightly in curiosity. "Alternate dimensions?" he asked curiously. "What mean you?"

This was the first time that Toshiro had really noticed the green-skinned creature's absurdly strange grammar. He chose to ignore it, though, seeing as no one else brought it up. "Let's see," he muttered as he tried to figure out the best way to explain it. "Alternate dimensions are basically places that you can't reach by simply traveling in any direction. They're separate realms of existence that can only be reached by some sort of gateway or portal."

That _really_ sparked everyone's interest. "Separate realms of existence?" a female human with a really weird hat asked in skeptical awe.

Toshiro nodded. "Yes."

"And you mean to tell us that you come from one of these… alternate dimensions?" the dark-skinned human asked, obviously just as skeptical as the weird-hat lady (if not more).

"Yes," Toshiro reassured them. He took a deep breath, then decided to give an explanatory monologue that would hopefully answer most of the Council's questions before they were asked. "The dimension I come from is called Soul Society," he explained. "Soul Society has strong ties to another dimension that we call the Real World. When a person dies in the Real World, special agents from Soul Society, called Shinigamis, help transport their soul to Soul Society. However, if a soul is not reached by a Shinigami in time, it turns into a Hollow, and starts feeding off of other souls.

"Hollows normally reside in another dimension called Hueco Mundo, but they are often drawn to the Real World by souls with a strong reiatsu, or 'presence', as you called it. Just as it is a Shinigami's job to transport normal souls to Soul Society, it is also their duty to protect these souls from Hollows, and to turn the Hollows back into normal souls so they can be safely sent to Soul Society. Both of these duties are carried out by using a zanpakuto, which is the sword you see on my back. Normal souls are sent to Soul Society by stamping their forehead with the butt end of the zanpakuto, while Hollows are purified by being mortally wounded with the zanpakuto's blade."

Toshiro took a deep breath as his mind shifted to the next subject. "Nearly all Shinigamis are part of an organization called the Gotei 13," he continued. "The Gotei 13 consists of thirteen independent squads, each with a captain, vice-captain, and several seated officers. I'm the captain of the tenth squad. Within the twelfth squad, there is an organization called the Shinigami Research Institute, which is a scientific research organization that monitors Soul Society, the Real World, and any other dimensions that we come across. They just recently discovered this dimension, and I was sent to investigate it, which is why I'm here."

Of all the faces in the room that were staring at Toshiro, only two looked like they actually believed him. Ironically enough, one of those faces belonged to the little green man, and the other belonged to what looked like another member of his species. "What happens when die in Soul Society, someone does?" the apparently female green person asked (Toshiro assumed that she was a female mainly because of her hair and her voice).

"Well, that depends," he replied. "When a soul dies in Soul Society, it dissolves, and usually recollects somewhere else. Most souls end up either getting reincarnated back in the Real World, or wondering around in the dimension that keeps the Real World and Soul Society separate (which we call the Severed World). There have been a few rare cases where souls have somehow found their way back to Soul Society, though." To be entirely honest, the only person Toshiro knew of who had actually done that was an old friend of his named Kusaka. Long story, lots of bittersweet memories that he didn't like to revisit.

The little green man gave Toshiro a curious look. "So, in Soul Society, a soul, everyone is?"

"Yes," he replied. "Which reminds me… I'm not exactly certain if this applies in this dimension or not, but in the Real World, the only ones who can see Shinigamis (or anyone from Soul Society, for that matter) are souls, Hollows, and living people who have high spirit power. From what I can tell, practically everyone in this facility has high spirit power, so everyone in this building should be able to see me just fine. But if I travel anywhere else, there might be people who won't be able to see me, because their spirit power isn't high enough. But like I said, I'm not entirely certain if that applies in this dimension or not."

This triggered a whole new set of baffled looks from the Council. And, once again, it was the two little green creatures who appeared to believe him despite the strangeness of what he'd just said. The male glanced around at the rest of the Council, as if taking a mental note of where everyone stood on the issue. Then he turned back to Toshiro. "Step outside for a few moments, would you?" he asked courteously. "Discuss some things in private, we must."

Toshiro gave a small, respectful bow, then turned and exited the room without another word.

l***l

Yoda sighed heavily as soon as the door closed behind the white-haired boy named Toshiro Hitsugaya. He looked at his fellow Council members with an eye of confused disapproval.

Mace Windu caught this look and decided to speak first. "You believe him," he stated, as if doing so was the most foolish thing in the galaxy.

Yoda sent him a penetrating look. "Sense any deception in him, did _you_?" he asked calmly.

"I don't think he's lying," Mace countered. "I just think he's confused. That fall might've messed up his memory more than we originally thought."

"Impossible, that is," Yaddle said simply. "Only _lose_ memories from head trauma like that, people do. Never so confused, do they get, that an elaborate story like that, they would believe to be real."

"But an _alternate dimension_?" Adi Gallia asked, her vote obviously teetering from one side to the other.

"A better explanation, do _you_ have?" Yoda asked. "Sent his DNA samples through many droids and databases, we have, and yet, a species match, we have not found. His midi-chlorian count, we cannot take. Tried several machines and testers, we did, but calculate his midi-chlorian count, none of them could. What explanation for _that_, do you have, hmm?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The High Council Chamber was silent for a few minutes. Everyone, with the exception of Yoda and Yaddle, was struggling to wrap their heads around the concept of an alternate dimension. Had the white-haired boy claimed to have come from another planet, or even another galaxy, they would've easily believed him. But this… this was just _way_ too much.

Probably among the most confused was Saesee Tiin. As an Iktotchi, Tiin was a natural telepath, and had picked up on many, _many_ scenes and thoughts from the apparently very strong-minded Toshiro Hitsugaya. The problem was, there were far too many memories for someone of that age to have seen in their life. This boy would've had to have lived for at _least_ a few decades in order to have that many memories.

And yet, the images had been among the most clear and vivid images that Master Tiin had ever seen. They corresponded perfectly with his claim, too – the alternate dimensions, Hollows, Shinigamis – all of his memories thoroughly supported his explanation. And it wasn't just that they were clear, either. They were also powerful and intense, so much so that Tiin almost had physical sensations with a few of them.

But the one thing that really got to Master Tiin more than anything else was that Toshiro apparently had no _idea_ that his memories and thoughts were that forceful, that his mind was that strong. Normally, one would have to put a great amount of effort and focus into their memories for them to appear that vivid, that _real_, to any level of telepath. But from what Master Tiin had gathered, Toshiro was completely oblivious to the fact that images, thoughts, feelings, and memories were pulsing out of his mind at all, let alone in such a strong, almost overwhelming manner.

It didn't surprise Tiin that the other Masters in the room hadn't picked up on this. After all, after having been told about the Council's mind-reading ability, Toshiro had (once again, unknowingly) put a minor, subconscious barrier on his mind that had "filtered out" most of the surface thoughts and images that would've been easily picked up by the rest of the Council. On top of that, the Council had been so caught off guard by what he was saying that they hadn't been focusing on seeing his thoughts as much as they normally would have.

"Master Tiin?"

Tiin pulled himself from his musings at the bidding of the Grand Jedi Master. He did that a lot; he'd be so caught up in his own thoughts that he'd "unplug", so-to-speak, from the rest of the group.

"Something to say, have you?"

Tiin nodded. "That boy has an exceptionally strong mind," he stated, "though I don't think he realizes it. I picked up a lot of thoughts and memories from him, and they all seemed to support his story… but…" He sent his fellow Council members an asking glance. "He has far too many memories for a boy his age."

"As young as he looks, he is not," Yaddle said simply. "Noticed that, I did, when first walked in, he did. Too tired are his eyes, too worked are his hands."

"But full-grown yet, he is not, either," Yoda said. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Possible, it is, that age at a slow rate, these Shinigamis do." He turned to Master Tiin. "Said, you did, that a strong mind, this boy has?"

Tiin nodded. "Yes. But like I said, I don't think he realizes how strong his mind is." He paused. "It seems like he has some awareness of his mental state, but not nearly as much as he would have under Jedi training. For instance, when he was told that we could see his thoughts, he subconsciously put up a minor mental barrier, one that blocked the usual superficial thoughts that are easily intercepted by most Knights. But beyond that, his thoughts and memories were very intense and vivid, and he appeared to have no idea that he was emitting any thoughts, images, memories, or the like at all."

"And everything you picked up on supported what he said?" Mace asked, obviously still unsure about the whole thing.

Tiin nodded.

Yoda let out one of famous "I'm thinking" sighs. "A highly sensitive mind he has, as well," he mused aloud. "When showed him to me, Obi-Wan did, barely touched his mind, I did. A soft enough touch, it was, that even notice it, most Jedi would not. But, when touched his mind I did, brought him out of unconsciousness and into a sleeping state, it did, and a slight, almost reflexive mental push, I felt, as if trying to protect his mind from invaders, he was."

"A _reflexive_, _protective_ push, you say?" Yarael Poof asked curiously.

Yoda nodded. "Yes."

"I think I might know the reason behind that," Yarael informed them. "As with Master Tiin, I, too, was observing the boy's mental state. And I found something rather interesting. It seems that the parts of his brain that control sensory input have all been put under the control of some sort of hypnotic 'implant', if you will. I use the word 'implant' because the effects of the hypnosis can apparently be turned 'on' and 'off' at someone's will other than himself. They were in the 'off" position when we spoke to him, and I highly doubt that they have anything to do with what he told us. From what I could tell, he knows that those 'implants' are there, but he does _not_ like their presence. In fact, if I may be frank, he _hates_ them. Perhaps that is why he is so instinctively protective of his mind, so as to prevent further unwanted 'implants' from being put there."

"Removed, can these 'implants' be?" Yaddle asked, her voice clearly displaying her concern for the boy.

"Not from what I can tell," Yarael replied. "It may be possible to train him to override them for a few moments at a time, but the hold they have on his mind is beyond anything I have ever encountered. It would be extremely dangerous for anyone at any skill level to attempt to remove these 'implants' by any means."

"And you're certain that these 'implants' have absolutely nothing to do with what he told us?" Mace asked.

Yarael nodded. "Normally I would suggest that we simply ask him about the 'implants' (since he knows they're there and all), but with the extremely high level of hatred I felt attached to them, I think it would be better if one of us approached him privately about it."

"Curious, I am," Yoda said, obviously about to switch subjects on everyone (which he was known to do from time to time), "about that sword he has. Feel how cold his presence is, did anyone?"

Eyes shot open and eyebrows raised around the room. "That was his _presence_?" Adi Gallia asked on behalf of practically the entire Council.

Yoda nodded. "More noticeable, it is, when approach him, you do, instead of the other way around. When visited him, I did, notice, I did, that strongly attached to his own presence, his sword is. Curious I am as to how works, that does, and why such a strong bond between him and his sword, there is."

"Shall we ask him back in for more questioning?" Kit Fisto asked.

Yoda shook his head. A sparkle that the Council knew well appeared in his eyes. "Invite him back in, yes, but not for questioning."

l***l

Toshiro once again stood in front of the Jedi High Council. They had talked for a very long time (which he'd been expecting, given all the strange things he'd told them). From what he could tell, most of them were on the brink of believing him. That was good for starters. After all, he could imagine just how hard it would be to accept a concept as weird and outlandish as inter-dimensional travel when you'd never even heard of an alternate dimension before.

He had expected them to really grill him this second time around, but, to his surprise, only one question was asked. And, technically speaking, it was more of a request than an interrogating question. A request that Toshiro would be glad to carry out.

"A demonstration, would you give us?" the little green man asked as he looked at him, the same warm and creepy way as before.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The rest of the Council stared in surprise at the little green man. Apparently, they hadn't discussed anything about a demonstration. Toshiro nodded. "Sure," he said, willing to do almost anything at this point to convince them that he was telling the truth. Hopefully, releasing Hyorinmaru would do the trick. "But if I'm going to give you a demonstration," he cautioned, "I'm going to need either the biggest empty room you have, or I'm going to need to be outside. That's the only way I can guarantee that I won't damage this building."

"How big, must this room be?" the little green man asked, before anyone else had time to object.

"Um…" Toshiro thought for a moment. Hyorinmaru was pretty darned big, plus he needed to be able to move around. He recalled telling the third squad's vice-captain to run at least twelve kilometers away when he'd fought Gin Ichimaru (who was the third squad's captain at the time), but he'd been really ticked off at Gin for making Momo bleed (or, at least he had thought that it was Gin who'd written the letter that had turned Momo on him, her childhood friend, and had driven her so mad that she'd clutched her sword tight enough for blood to ooze out of her hands), and he was more concerned with killing Gin at the time than he was with keeping Hyorinmaru contained to a specific area. But if he could concentrate on keeping Hyorinmaru in as small a space as possible… "Absolutely no less than 200 meters cubed. If the room's any smaller than that in any direction, I can't guarantee that I won't accidentally damage it."

The green being lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment, as if thinking. "A room that size, we have," he said finally. "Much bigger than that, it is, actually."

"We do?" a few Council members said simultaneously.

The little green man nodded. "Been used in a very long time, it has not. Underground, it is." He slid off his chair, and produced a knurled, wooden cane-looking thing (that actually reminded Toshiro a lot of the Captain-Commander's zanpakuto, which was constantly disguised as a cane). "Want to move, you might," he told Toshiro with a smile as he hobbled over to one of the pillars at the edge of the room. He lifted the end of his cane to about thirty centimeters above his head, then tapped the side of the pillar with the end of his cane, causing several small blocks (each about three centimeters square) to light up with a soft blue glow.

Toshiro was glad that he'd taken the creature's advice and moved to the outer edge of the room. A circular area of about two meters in diameter in the center of the room dropped a few centimeters beneath the floor, then slid mechanically to one side. In its place rose a tall, metal cylinder, with a door on one side that opened as soon as the bottom of it was level with the floor.

Most of the Council members had stood up in surprise. "Master Yoda, what is this?" the bald, dark-skinned human demanded.

"An elevator, it is, Master Windu," Yoda teased. "What think it was, did you?"

_"Master" must be this dimension's equivalent of "Captain",_ Toshiro deduced.

"But why haven't we been told about this room before?" a human-ish man with light skin and an extremely elongated head asked.

"Any need for you to know, there was not," Yoda replied with a dismissing wave of his hand. "Now," he said semi-officially, "this demonstration, who all would like to see?"

"Uh, I think we'd _all_ like to see this demonstration," the weird-hat lady said. The rest of the Council confirmed her assumption.

"Then in groups, you must go down," Yoda said. "Come down last, Yaddle, Toshiro, and I will."

l***l

The door to the elevator shut behind the second-to-last group down. Toshiro felt weird; he was now the tallest person in the room, but he was used to being the shortest.

"How long, are days in Soul Society?"

Toshiro turned towards Yoda, a bit startled by the seemingly random question. "Um, 24 hours… why?"

"And how long, are your years?"

It suddenly dawned on Toshiro that Yoda was trying to gauge any time differences between this dimension and Soul Society. "365 days."

Yoda's ears raised slightly, as if he was pleasantly surprised by Toshiro's answer. "Hmm." He nodded, then turned back to Toshiro, as if he was finally getting to the question he'd wanted to ask from the get-go. "How old are you?"

Now, normally, Toshiro's initial thought would've been something along the lines of, _Old enough to be a Captain and whip your butt in combat, jerk!_ And he probably would've said something along the lines of, "That's none of your business," in a calm, collected (if slightly annoyed) voice. But the way Yoda had asked this question had been so innocent, and so genuinely curious, that Toshiro honestly didn't mind telling him. "I'm 100. But in Soul Society, everyone ages about ten times slower than people in the Real World. So, compared to everyone else in Soul Society, I'm still a kid."

Yoda nodded. "Hmm… interesting."

Toshiro was somewhat grateful that that was the last word that was said until they reached the underground room.

l***l

The metal door of the elevator opened in front of Toshiro, Yoda, and Yaddle. As they stepped out, Toshiro could tell that this room was _plenty_ big. He also saw what was apparently some sort of observing room on the left-hand wall that was about twenty meters off the ground.

"Big enough, is this room?" Yoda inquired.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah, this is good."

"Going to send out a sparring droid, we are," Yoda informed him as the rest of the Council began walking towards the observing room.

Toshiro nodded. "You don't mind if I destroy it, right?"

Yoda chuckled. It was honestly the weirdest laughing voice Toshiro had ever heard. "Of course not," he said as he turned and hobbled after the rest of the Council. "What they are for, that is."

Toshiro nodded again as he watched Yoda walk away. He almost smiled at him. That was unsettling. Why was he warming up to this strange creature so quickly? It was completely unlike him. Heck, he'd known Rangiku since before he'd even entered the Shinigami Academy (she was actually the one who had convinced him to leave his dear granny back in Rukongai and become a Shinigami in the first place), and he was still often cold and harsh to her. Plus, he'd grown even more cautious and introverted after the whole Aizen incident (which had yet to be resolved). The fact that he was warming up to Yoda before he'd even gotten a chance to get to know him sent up all kinds of red flags, especially after the cursed stunt that Aizen had pulled. The last thing Toshiro wanted was to be tricked, manipulated, betrayed, and stabbed in the back like that again.

Toshiro was yanked from his thoughts by the mechanical _whoosh_ of an automated door. His mind immediately snapped into focus. He reached over his right shoulder and grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto. His body positioned itself into a battle stance.

He was ready.

A droid emerged from the door that had just opened on the wall below the observation room. It was holding a metallic cylinder that was similar to the ones that Toshiro had noticed hanging from the belts of practically everyone he'd come across since he'd arrived in this dimension. One of the droid's fingers tapped the cylinder in a specific spot, and instantly, a blade of blue cylindrical light sprang from the top of the cylinder. _So that's what their weapons look like, huh?_ Toshiro mused as he pulled his own weapon out of its sheath, which dissolved as the sharp edge of the blade cut through it.

The droid lunged at him. Toshiro easily blocked the blue blade as it came down, then parried and sliced through the droid's mid-section. _Good,_ he thought as the pile of scrap metal that used to be a sparring droid collapsed to the ground. _I _can_ cut through them._

l***l

The Council stood in the observation room, most of them gaping at the white-haired boy. Not only had his blade completely blocked a lightsaber, but he'd also scrapped the droid in less than five seconds.

Yoda was beaming. "Going to have to increase the difficulty, it looks like we are," he said merrily.

l***l

The same door opened, and another droid emerged, this one carrying a green-bladed light sword. It lunged at Toshiro the same way the first one had, but when Toshiro went to slice through it like he had the first one, it blocked. _I see,_ Toshiro thought as he jumped back a bit. _This droid's at a higher combat level than the first one was._

Toshiro lunged at the droid, sending the two blades into a flurry of rapid clashes. Toshiro deduced that this droid's basic sparring level was about the same as a third seat's, maybe even a vice-captain at best. And, at least from what he could tell, sparring was the only thing this droid _could_ do – no Shunpo, no Kido, and no zanpakuto release. _Tch, what a cake walk,_ Toshiro thought as he used Shunpo to get behind the droid and slice through it diagonally from its left "shoulder" to its right "hip".

l***l

Even Master Yoda was gaping at Toshiro now. It looked like the boy had just teleported behind the droid before cutting it down.

"Was that _Burst of Speed_?" Adi Gallia asked.

"No," Yaddle replied, her eyes still fixed on the white-haired boy, studying his every move. "Similar, it was, but not the same."

"What do we do now?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked. "That droid was on the highest possible difficulty setting."

Yoda thought for a moment. "Decrease the difficulty level a bit," he said finally, "but, more than one droid, send out."

l***l

Once again the door opened. This time, four droids emerged instead of just one. Toshiro brought his sword in front of him, his hands grasping the hilt down by his waist, and the blade pointing up so the tip of it was just about eye-level with him. _Looks like I'm going to have to step things up a notch,_ he thought as he let his reiatsu seep out of him a bit, causing his body to glow with a blue-ish white light.

l***l

"What in the-!"

He was _glowing_ now. The boy who claimed to come from an alternate dimension was _glowing_. What's more, the temperature in the room had noticeably dropped. Every eye was as wide open as it possibly could be, and jaws hung open in utter astonishment. No one, not even Master Yoda, had seen anything like this before.

It was enough to convince all but a few members of the Council that the boy was telling the truth.

l***l

The droids attacked all at once. Toshiro evaded their blows almost effortlessly. Then, as he darted to the side of one of the droids, he brought out the chain that was attached to the end of his zanpakuto's hilt on one end, and to a crescent-shaped blade on the other, wrapped it around the droid's legs, and yanked, causing the droid crash onto its mechanical face.

l***l

"Whoa, now wait a minute!" Mace exclaimed. "Where did that chain thing come from?"

The rest of the Council was trying to figure that out as well. They were all certain that the end of the boy's sword had been perfectly normal; there were no bumps, ridges, symbols, or anything of the sort on it. But now, all of a sudden and out of nowhere, he had a chain attached to it. On the other end of the chain was a crescent-shaped blade, about 1½ times the size of the sword's guard. What's more, the chain was apparently extendable, although there were no logical ways of explaining how that was physically possible.

Although he had no idea how what he was seeing was even possible, Yoda was thoroughly enjoying the demonstration. He couldn't remember the last time he'd run into something that he'd never seen or experienced at least to some degree before. This century-old boy had pricked his long-dormant curiosity; plus, Yoda could tell that he was still hiding his true power.

His eyes twinkled. "More droids, send out," he said with a smile. "On the highest difficulty, set them."

l***l

Toshiro once again heard the door open. He whipped around to find six more sparring droids running out of the door. He'd only cut down two of the four previous droids. _Crap!_ He used Shunpo to get away from the droids, then launched himself high in the air.

It was time.

He tightened his grip on his zanpakuto as he brought it up above his head. His reiatsu was pouring out of him now. He could almost hear his zanpakuto's voice, could almost feel it vibrate in his hands.

_Soten ni zase…_

He swung the blade down. As he did so, an icy river flowed from the sword's tip. The river grew and looped around Toshiro.

_HYORINMARU!_

The river swirled around him, the icy water having been created from his own overflowing reiatsu. It broke off from the sword's tip; then, the other end of the river formed into the head of a dragon, its entire body made of water and ice, and its eyes a glowing red.

Toshiro swung his zanpakuto towards the droids. The ice dragon followed Toshiro's command, racing towards the droids and crashing into them, first drowning them in water, then freezing them in solid ice. Toshiro saw the droids and their light swords spark, then die as they'd been surrounded by the water. He allowed himself to fall, his reiatsu immediately dying down, and his zanpakuto returning back to normal. Convinced that that was all the demonstration the Council would need, he flung his zanpakuto over his back, then let go after the sheath reconstructed itself around Hyorinmaru's blade.

l***l

Paralyzed.

The entire Council was now paralyzed in shock and awe.

No one knew what to say, nor what to do. They had all just witnessed something that went far beyond their wildest imaginations. They had watched the impossible happen. They had felt his presence grow and fade, felt it as the temperature had plunged and returned to normal.

Now, even Master Windu was convinced.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Toshiro carried his tray of food to an empty table in the dining hall, his eyes discreetly scanning the other people in the room for any clues as to how to use the odd utensils. The food itself didn't look too bad; a little strange, maybe, but it smelled fine.

He sat down, then proceeded to eat his meal using the techniques he'd picked up from his observations. The food wasn't half bad, actually; a little different, but still plenty edible. He tried to continue his observations as he ate, but instead found himself lost in thoughts of Soul Society, of the dangerous predicament everyone was in, and, of course, of Momo.

He remembered how they used to sit together on granny's front porch, eating watermelon and talking about Momo's training at the Shinigami Academy. That was way back when she used to call him "Shiro-chan" **all** the time. _"I'll call you by your last name when you go to the same school as me,"_ she had told him.

_"Don't mess around!"_ he'd retorted. _"Why should I go there?"_

Life had been so simple back then, back before Momo had decided to become a Shinigami. To this day, he still couldn't figure out why she had done it. Why couldn't she just ignore her power, like he had all those years? He'd been so shocked at first, that he'd honestly thought she'd been joking. The sweet, innocent, happy, non-violent, friend-to-everyone Momo, becoming a Shinigami? No way! She'd have to fight all the time, and that just wasn't her!

But, for whatever reason, she _had_ become a Shinigami. And as soon as she'd moved into the dorms at the Shinigami Academy, granny had started to lose weight. A _lot_ of weight. It wasn't until five years later that Toshiro learned that it was his own cold reiatsu that was making his dear granny sick. Rangiku had pointed that out to him. _"If you don't learn to control your reiatsu,"_ she had told him, _"you'll directly kill your grandmother with your own power."_

And that had pretty much settled it.

From then on, Toshiro had dedicated himself to becoming stronger, mainly so he could better protect Momo. Thankfully, the only person who ever had so much as a suspicion that he liked Momo as more than just a friend was his old friend, Kusaka. But then Kusaka was executed by the Office of 46 (which was the highest judicial body in Soul Society, at least until Aizen slaughtered them) because he had the same zanpakuto as Toshiro (which was apparently against the rules somehow). Toshiro didn't like to think about that.

If Kusaka's death had done any good in Toshiro's life, it was to motivate Toshiro to re-dedicate himself to protecting Momo. That was actually how he'd been able to advance to the rank of captain so quickly. He'd train whenever he got the chance, often pushing himself to the limits, just so he could be strong enough to protect Momo instead of the other way around. Once he'd become the Captain of the tenth squad, he'd thought that he'd reached his goal. He was a captain, she was a vice-captain. If anything happened, he could protect her. He _would_ protect her.

But he'd been wrong. Dead wrong.

"What'cha thinking about?"

Toshiro blinked and looked up, only to find Anakin sitting next to him, the typical kid-trying-to-befriend-another-kid look on his face. "That's none of your business," he replied coldly as he took another bite of his food.

Anakin blinked and pulled back, as if he'd been insulted. "Hey, I was just trying to be nice!"

"Well go away," Toshiro spat back. "You're annoying me."

Anakin's jaw dropped. "Well fine, you jerk!" He got up and stormed off.

_Tch, good riddance._ Toshiro finished his last few bites of food, then followed the example of everyone else and took the tray and dishes back to a certain counter.

"Get along well with younglings, you do not, hmm?"

Toshiro turned to see Yoda smiling at him again, this time in an amused sort of way. "Um, not really," he replied, once again feeling that uncomfortable comfortableness.

Yoda chuckled. "Worry not," he said in a low, almost secretive voice. "Been there, I have."

Toshiro furrowed his eyebrows at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Annoyed you get, because thinks, he does, that the same age, you two are, when in fact, much older than him, you are." He said it as if it were as trivial as the time of day. Then he turned and smiled at Toshiro again. "Been there, I have," he repeated.

Toshiro didn't say anything.

"Speak with you in private, may I?" Yoda asked politely.

Toshiro swallowed. He felt like he was split in two: half of him wanted to talk to Yoda and get to know him better, but the other half was wary of what might actually happen. "Why?" he asked finally.

"See, you will," Yoda replied with a reassuring nod.

Toshiro easily read between the lines of Yoda's reply. He was asking Toshiro to trust him. Not _telling_ Toshiro to trust him – _asking_ him. "Sure," Toshiro heard himself say.

Yoda's smile curved up a bit more, as if he were both happy and relieved by Toshiro's response. "Come," he said simply as he turned and began hobbling away.

Toshiro apprehensively followed.

l***l

An automatic door opened in front of Yoda, revealing a small, circular-ish room with two large round cushions set in the middle of it. Toshiro followed Yoda inside. Lines of light seeped in through slanted blinds, adding to the room's general atmosphere of tranquility. Toshiro wished he could feel as calm as this room did. Peace was something he hadn't felt in a heck of a long time, except in passing memories of him, Momo, and granny back in Rukongai. But those were always inevitably accompanied by thoughts of his life after that, and the feeling of peace was destroyed.

"Have a seat," Yoda offered kindly as he hopped onto one of the two cushions.

Toshiro silently pulled himself up onto the other cushion. His feet dangled about five centimeters off the ground. He looked up at Yoda, and once again had flashbacks of his granny. "So… what do you want?" he asked, hoping that this little meeting would be over soon so he wouldn't have to deal with this awkward feeling anymore.

Yoda gazed at him for a short moment longer before speaking. "When questioned you, we did," he said warmly, "said, you did, that sent here to investigate this dimension, you were."

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah," he replied quietly. He noticed that there had been no pause before "dimension", which seemed to indicate that Yoda had accepted alternate dimensions as fact, just as Toshiro had accepted their mind-reading ability as fact.

"Which means," Yoda continued, "that sent here to gather information, you were."

Again, Toshiro nodded. "Right."

Yoda straightened his posture and broadened his smile. "The Grand Master of the Jedi Order, I am," he declared. "Anything you like, ask me, you can."

Toshiro blinked, completely caught off guard by this statement. "Wha- Really?"

Yoda nodded. "Under one condition," he said as he held up one of his clawed fingers.

Toshiro slouched his shoulders a bit. _Oh great…_

"When finished questioning me, you are," he said with an obvious twinkle in his eye, "question _you_, I can."

Toshiro's posture immediately straightened again. "Oh…" He thought about it for a moment. "So… I can ask you _anything_? Even personal stuff?"

Yoda nodded. "Goes for you, that does, as well."

Toshiro shifted his gaze to the floor in thought for a moment. The fact that Yoda was willing to answer personal questions told Toshiro that Yoda felt like he didn't have anything to hide. Plus, Yoda was letting Toshiro ask the questions first, which would allow Toshiro to get to know him better before he was obliged to tell Yoda anything about himself. "Okay," he said finally.

l***l

Yoda was glad and relieved to hear Toshiro take him up on his offer. Over 700 years of training Jedi had taught Yoda how to recognize when someone needed personal attention, and what type of attention they needed. He could tell that Toshiro was going to take some work. But that was no matter; after all, he'd come across several others who had shared similar traits: reclusive, pensive, quick to push others away. He knew that these traits usually meant that there was a deeper problem lurking beneath the surface, and he knew how to carefully pick and wade his way to the real issue.

Bottom line: he was going to help this boy, whether Toshiro liked it or not.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Yaddle checked the time. She was studying the holograms of Toshiro's demonstration, but set them aside for now and went to go check on Yoda. He had told her that he was hopefully going to have a little talk with Toshiro after lunch, and had also asked her to sub for his youngling class should their conversation last for a long time. She had agreed. After all, this wasn't the first time she'd subbed for him, and she rather enjoyed teaching the younglings.

Since Yoda's quarters was on the way to his youngling class, she decided to just listen by his door for a few seconds to see how far along they were in the conversation. She could tell after a few moments of eavesdropping that their conversation was far from over. She smiled. _Really taken a liking to this Toshiro, Yoda has,_ she thought as she walked away.

l***l

Toshiro sat in silence for a moment, searching his mind for another question to ask. He had learned far more about this dimension in the last couple of hours than he would've learned in weeks if he had relied on his observations alone. He had learned about Jedi and the Republic, about Sith and the Trade Federation, about the technology that enabled people to travel between planets, and (possibly the most important and by far the most interesting to Toshiro) about the Force.

Yoda had just described the Force to him as "an energy field created by all living things" that "surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together". Toshiro felt like he was getting a taste of his own medicine; this concept of the Force was completely baffling to him. "But if the Force is created by _all_ living things," Toshiro asked, genuinely curious for the first time in a long time, "then why do I sense differences in reiatsu levels between, say, you and Obi-Wan?"

Yoda had been beaming throughout the entire conversation. Toshiro got the impression that he thoroughly enjoyed indoctrinating anyone who gave him the opportunity. "Has to do with our midi-chlorian count, that probably does," he said. "Microscopic life-forms that live in all body cells, midi-chlorians are. Allow us to communicate with the Force, they do."

Now Toshiro was really confused. "Wait… what do you mean, _communicate_? Is this 'Force' some kind of living thing, or something?"

Yoda closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, then exhaled with a heavy sigh. He was apparently trying to figure out how to explain this strange concept to him. "Premonitions, or 'gut feelings' that turned out to be true, have you ever had?" he asked finally.

Toshiro instantly caught on. "Oh, so, the Force basically enhances your intuition, based on how many midi-chlorians your cells have?"

Yoda nodded, noticeably relieved and a tad bit surprised at how quickly he'd figured it out. "A large part of the Force, that is."

Toshiro proceed to ask the inevitable follow-up question: "What's the other part?"

"Three main 'parts' of the Force, or ways to use the Force, there are," Yoda explained. "Control, Sense, and Alter, they are. Internal, Control is. A Jedi's ability to recognize the Force within themselves, and to use it for their benefit, it is. Focuses outside the body, Sense does. Allows a Jedi to gather information about their surroundings through the Force, it does. Fit into this category, does a Jedi's heightened intuition, as well as your ability to sense 'reiatsu levels' in others. The third and most difficult area to master, Alter is. Enables a Jedi to reach out to the Force, and use it to modify the world around them, it does. Applied in countless different ways, Alter can be, such as telekinesis and healing. Have a particular talent in a specific skill, many Jedi do. And, although separate these three areas are, certain skills there are, where combined, they must be, such as Alter Mind."

l***l

Oops. He shouldn't have said that.

At the mention of Alter Mind, Yoda instantly felt Toshiro's level of hatred and skepticism skyrocket. He also felt his mind turn inward on itself, single-out the "hypnotic implants" that Master Poof had talked about, then bounce back with the "subconscious mental barriers" Master Tiin had pointed out.

One thing was for sure: whatever ground Yoda had gained with getting Toshiro to open up to him, had now been completely lost.

l***l

"_Alter Mind_?" Toshiro asked, red flags shooting up in his mind like rockets, then exploding into flashbacks of Aizen like fireworks on New Years Eve. "What exactly does that mean?"

Toshiro noticed that Yoda's attitude had suddenly changed. He wasn't smiling anymore, for starters. His ears drooped a little, and were soon copied by his eyes. Apparently, he had realized that Toshiro was no longer going to be as open as he had previously been. He took a deep breath, and was about to say something, when musical chimes sounded.

Yoda's ears perked up at the mellifluous sound. He gazed towards the door until the chimes had finished their short song. "Dinner time, it is," he said quietly.

The room was silent for a good deal of time. Toshiro folded his arms. "Aren't you going to answer me?" he asked, his voice low and a little gruff.

Yoda turned to face him. Toshiro looked him square in the eye, then swallowed when he saw how sad of an expression it was. Still, he held his gaze steady. Yoda soon forfeited the staring contest, slid off his cushion, and hobbled out the door without another word. That stung Toshiro in a way he had _not_ expected. He felt as if he'd just kicked his own dear granny out of the room.

l***l

Yoda summoned his hover chair, then rode it to the dining hall. It looked like Toshiro was going to be a much harder nut to crack than he had anticipated. He had left his quarters knowing that Toshiro was not in any way ready to continue the conversation. It was as if Toshiro had an iron gate attached to his heart that was held up by a single rope, and as soon as Yoda had brought up Alter Mind, the rope had snapped, and the gate had slammed shut.

He felt Yaddle's presence approaching from the direction of his youngling's class. He slowed and lowered his hover chair so he could talk with her on the way to the dining hall. He may be the Grand Jedi Master and the oldest person in the Order, but even he needed a close friend to talk to about what was bothering him every once in awhile.

As she walked up to him, her facial expression changed from one that had just finished doing an activity that she found joyful and fulfilling, to one that realized that her closest friend was troubled about something. "Wrong, what is?" she asked when she caught up to him.

He sighed, then continued to hover beside her as they made their way to the dining hall. "_Started_ well, the conversation did."

"What happened?"

"Accidentally brought up Alter Mind, I did," he replied sadly. "Right about the 'implants' and the hatred attached to them, Master Poof was."

Yaddle sighed at a level so soft that only Yoda's sharp ears could've detected it. "Where is he?"

"Left him in my quarters, I did."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him in surprise. "Why?"

"Ready to continue the conversation, he was not." He let out his own "silent sigh". "Try to talk to him later, I will."

Yaddle raised one of her eyebrows at him. "_Try_, you will? Since when a part of _your_ vocabulary, is that?"

Yoda smiled. Yaddle was quite possibly the only person who was allowed to say things like that to him without fear of reproach. "Know me too well, you do," he mock-complained.

l***l

Toshiro stepped out of Yoda's room and into the busy hallway. He had waited for about five minutes after Yoda had left before emerging, in order to lessen the chances of running into him, and also to get a hold of himself mentally and emotionally.

He had gathered _plenty_ of information to relay back to Soul Society. He wished that he knew more about the Force, but he'd have to let that sit for now. His plan for the rest of the day was this: eat dinner, avoid Yoda, retire to the room that had been temporarily given to him earlier that day, send in his report to Soul Society, call Matsumoto to see how the squad was doing (and to see if she'd actually done the paperwork for the day), then go to bed.

Hopefully, his plan wouldn't be interrupted too much.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rangiku sat behind the large desk in the tenth squad's administrative office, a large pile of finished paperwork to her left, and a pile about half the size of unfinished paperwork to her right. She sighed heavily. "I just don't see how the Captain can sit here and do this all day without going insane," she complained aloud to no one in particular. "A kid his age shouldn't even be capable of focusing on something so boring for so long. It's unhealthy!"

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Rangiku called over her shoulder.

The large sliding door opened. "Um, please excuse me, Rangiku-san…"

"Hinamori?" Rangiku smiled. "Ah, don't worry about interrupting me." She stretched. "I needed a break anyway! So, what's up?"

Momo stepped a bit timidly into the room. "Um, I was just wondering if Hitsugaya-kun has called you yet?"

"Yeah, he called me this morning. Why? Did you want to talk to him?"

"Oh, well, um… I was just wondering… if he was okay…"

Rangiku laughed. "Hinamori! You worry too much, girl! Don't you remember what he told you before he left?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"'But' nothing!" Her warm voice took on a hint of seriousness. "I know it's hard to not worry about him with him being so young and all, I struggle with that too sometimes. But you have to force yourself to remember that he's a _captain_, which means that he's better off wherever he is than either of us would be. Besides, my Captain doesn't like it when people of a lower rank worry about him like that. He almost considers it insulting." She looked up and smiled warmly at her fellow Vice-captain. "We've just got to put our faith in him, is all."

Momo smiled, although her face made it obvious that she was still worried. "Did… did he say what it was like there?"

"Yeah, he said that the people are really nice. He had a rough landing and was knocked unconscious for awhile, but the people there brought him to a medical facility and took good care of him, so he's fine now."

Momo's face finally showed signs of relief. "Thank goodness," she breathed.

"Oi, didn't you hear a word I just said?" Rangiku scolded softly.

Momo looked up, smiled, sighed, and lowered her gaze again. "I know," she said quietly. "It's just, like you said… it's hard, to not worry about him…"

Rangiku smiled sympathetically. "Well, don't," she ordered softly as she turned back to the stack of paperwork. "And you know, if he were here right now, he'd be telling you to go get some rest."

Momo giggled. "Yeah, I know." She looked up. "Thank you, Rangiku-san."

"Sure, no problem. Hey," she called as Momo was about to step out of the door, "do you have his cell phone number? I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you called to check up on him."

"Yeah, I have it… but… I wouldn't want to call him at a bad time…"

"Do you want me to let you know when he calls? 'Cause if you want to talk to him-"

"Oh, no, that's okay, Rangiku-san, you don't have to do that-"

"Oh, don't be silly! I wouldn't mind it at all!"

Momo once again lowered her gaze. "Um, actually, could you just ask him to call me, whenever he's not busy? We… we never really got to finish our talk, when he was in the Real World…"

Rangiku nodded "Sure, I'll let him know."

Momo beamed at her. "Thank you so much, Rangiku-san." She gave a tiny head-bow, then turned to leave.

"Don't mention it," Rangiku called after her.

l***l

Toshiro was about three bites away from finishing his dinner, when he noticed a small group of kids approaching the empty table he was sitting at. He ignored them, desperately hoping that they would return the favor.

They didn't.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"What's that sword on your back?"

"Your hair's really cool!"

"What species are you?"

"What planet do you come from?"

"How come you're wearing socks with your sandals?"

"What's this symbol on your back mean?"

"Is it true that you fell right out of the sky?"

"Of course not! No one could survive a fall that high!"

"Yeah, plus he'd be hit by lots of speeders on the way down."

"Who told you that?"

"Anakin. He said that he and his Master saw him fall right out of the sky!"

"No way! Anakin wouldn't lie like that!"

"Well, is it true, or not?"

Toshiro swallowed his last bite of food. "None of that's any of your business," he said coldly as he stood up and turned to leave. "Leave me alone, you guys are annoying."

"Can I take your tray back for you?"

Toshiro stopped short, and turned towards the young female voice that had just spoken. The girl was probably about nine or ten, and appeared human in every aspect save for the color of her skin and two tentacles that sprouted from the top rear section of her head. Her request had knocked him speechless. Here he was, some strange new "kid" who she didn't know anything about, a complete stranger who'd just turned a cold shoulder to the entire group, and she had genuinely offered to do him a very small favor. He honestly didn't know how to respond. If he rejected her offer, he'd _really_ be acting like a jerk (which he really didn't want to do because he wasn't actually a jerk; he just got annoyed easily), and he knew that he'd feel bad about it later. But if he accepted it, then the group of kids would probably assume that he'd open up and start talking if they prodded him enough (which was the exact opposite of what would actually happen). He was equally unhappy with both options, so he just stood there in a stupor for a moment. "Uh…"

Fortunately, the girl took this to mean "yes", and quickly stepped forward and took the tray from his hands. "Uh, thanks," Toshiro said quietly. The girl nodded and smiled at him, then walked away without another word. Having no intentions of staying around long enough for the rest of the bunch to start their interrogations again, he instantly turned and walked at a brisk pace towards his guest room.

l***l

Yoda's ears lifted. He had been watching Toshiro's interaction with the group of younglings from a good distance away, and his reaction to the Twi'lek girl's simple act of kindness had intrigued him. The timing of it all was too perfect to be called a mere coincidence. In the same day that he had *accidentally* learned how to provoke Toshiro into permanently locking up the gates of his heart, the Force had shown him the key to opening those gates again.

He smiled, then hovered to his quarters for his nightly study and meditation.

l***l

It took Toshiro quite a while to send his report to Soul Society via the texting capabilities on his cell phone. His room had a large window with a window seat that provided a nice view of the evening sky. He sat on this oversized windowsill as he typed, occasionally looking up at the beautiful early sunset and silently sighing with memories of Momo. He went through this same little ritual whenever he went to the Real World for more than a couple days. For him, watching the sky and basking in those sweet memories was his one solace amidst the chaos that was his life on a day-to-day basis.

He finally finished sending in his report, then turned away from the window as he dialed Rangiku's number. He would've rather just called the tenth squad's administrative office phone, but he highly doubted she'd be there.

"Hi, Cap~tain!"

"How's the squad doing?"

"We're all doing fine. Nothing's really happened since you left."

"That's good. Did you get the paperwork done?"

"Of course!"

"Idiot, don't say that like you always do it."

"Oh! Captain!"

"What?"

"Hinamori wants you to call her."

He blinked. "Really? Did she say what about?"

"Yeah, something about finishing the conversation you had with her while we were in the Real World."

Toshiro's eyes and fists snapped closed as if in reflex. "I see," he said quietly as flashbacks of that conversation started running through his mind. "I'll call her tomorrow, then. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem, Captain!"

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Nope."

"Alright, then. I'll call you tomorrow about this same time if I can. Goodnight, Matsumoto."

"Night, Captain!"

He hung up and placed the phone back in the inside pocket of his white, sleeveless haori. He spent another five to ten minutes or so gazing out the window, this time planning what he was going to say to Momo. The conversation they'd had while he was in Karakura Town had _not_ ended well. As much as he wanted to get the issue at hand resolved, he knew that he'd need a little time to prep himself for it.

Once he got the bulk of what he wanted to say planned out, he slid off the window seat, pulled the blinds to block out the sunlight, stripped down to the white bottom layer of his uniform, carefully folded the outer two layers and set them on the small dresser by the bed, then curled up under the thin blankets, and drifted off to sleep.

l***l

_Water surrounded him._

_The water was moving, thrashing around him in a violent manner, as if he was caught beneath the waves of a massive storm._

_The water was ice-cold. He couldn't breathe._

_Images swirled around him, as if they had been liquefied and dissolved into the water. Memories, all bitter ones that he wished he could forget._

_He couldn't tell which way was up._

_Kusaka being murdered by the Office of 46. Momo lying unconscious on the ground, in a pool of her own blood, blood that had been spilled by the hands of her own Captain._

_He needed air._

_A three-fingered, clawed hand latched onto his arm. It began pulling him down. He resisted, knowing that whoever the hand belonged to was trying to drown him, trying to keep him from the air that he desperately needed._

_The grip of the three-fingered hand was slipping at his efforts to break free. Another hand of the same sort grabbed on higher up his arm, and began pulling him down again. He resisted even harder._

_He needed air. NOW._

_He thrashed violently in an effort to escape the iron grip of these two small hands. The sharp claws dug deep into his skin. Thick clouds of blood slithered out of his arm._

_He inhaled._

_A mixture of water and blood filled his lungs. He could still see flashes of the bitter memories. The hands again tried to pull him down, but he continued to resist with all his might._

_His strength failed him._

_The hands drug him down, down, down…_

_AIR!_

_He exhaled, water and blood pouring out of his lungs. He felt solid ground beneath him. He inhaled the sweet air, as the remaining water came up in ensuing coughing fits._

_The images were gone._

_He suddenly felt the sting of his fresh wounds, wounds that had been inflicted by the one who had saved him. His eyes traveled up the hands and arms of his rescuer._

_It was Yoda._

_Yoda's face was sad again. "Let me help you," he pleaded._

_Yoda pulled his hands away from his bleeding arm, and suddenly, the wounds were gone. He looked out to see the storm still raging. Yoda smiled reassuringly at him, then tapped the water with the end of his walking cane._

_The storm ceased. The skies cleared._

_He was happy. His heart was at peace._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Warm sunlight filtered in through the blinds. Toshiro's eyes slowly opened. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, he noticed that the peace he'd felt at the end of the dream hadn't gone away. In fact, it almost felt like it was growing, but in an odd kind of way. It was as if the feeling of peace itself was calming Toshiro, causing him to feel more and more at peace with each passing moment.

He propped his pillow up against the wall behind his bed, then scooted back, leaned his back against the pillow, brought his knees comfortably up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, rested his forehead on his knees, and closed his eyes. He wanted to soak in as much of this peace as possible.

His mind was empty. Completely, totally empty. It felt weird, but it felt good, too. Normally he'd be thinking about Momo, or his squad, or the latest calamity that had befallen Soul Society, or something stupid Rangiku had done earlier that day or the day before. But now, his mind was completely clear. No bad memories to haunt him, and no good memories to provoke his already bad case of nostalgia.

Just peace. Quiet. Calmness.

After some time, Toshiro began to feel like this peace was gently trying to lead his mind somewhere. He let the calmness guide him, not stopping to think how strange this whole ordeal was. He began to see images, but they were different from what he was used to. Normally, when he thought about his past or daydreamed about his ideal future, it felt as if his mind was projecting the images onto an invisible screen right in front of his eyes. But these images didn't come from his mind. They came from… somewhere else… somewhere outside of Toshiro. The images felt fresh and new. They lifted him, made him feel light and glad, whereas he normally felt weighed down by his thoughts.

He could see Momo smiling at him. She was older, and her smile somehow seemed more radiant and beautiful than he remembered. He noticed that she was wearing her hair down with a cute headband instead of her usual cloth-covered bun. This made his heart smile. She looked so much better with her hair down, he thought. He also noticed that her breasts had filled out, but not too much, thank goodness. Being around Rangiku's mammoth-sized cleavage (that she always let hang half-way out, much to his dismay) had gotten him to the point to where he was completely turned off by overly-large breasts.

Then he saw himself. He was older too, probably in between Rangiku and Momo's age in the present. He was about half a head taller than Momo (who hadn't really grown much taller from what she was now), but other than that and the usual changes that come with puberty, he looked pretty much the same.

He saw him and Momo spending a lot of time together, laughing, smiling, holding hands. They visited granny quite a bit, too. It was obvious that Momo leaned on him, both literally and figuratively. That brought him more quiet joy than anything else he saw. More than anything, he wanted Momo to cling to him, to trust him above anyone and everyone, to look to him first for protection and comfort. He wanted to belong to Momo, to be hers and hers alone, with no one else to come between them. He wanted her to look at him and think, "That's _my_ Hitsugaya-kun. _My_ Toshiro." And yes, he'd even tolerate "_My_ Shiro-chan."

He felt himself being gently pulled back from this sea of images. Slowly he came back to the present. He opened his eyes, and sighed. He felt better. Better compared to what, he wasn't quite sure. He just felt… _better_.

He slipped out of bed and dressed himself. The digital clock in the room wasn't much help since he couldn't read it. "I hope I haven't missed breakfast," he muttered under his breath.

"Missed it, you have not."

"WHAAH!" Toshiro jumped and turned, only to find Yoda sitting on the window seat. "What the heck are you doing here?"

Yoda's face was practically screaming, "Ah, this never gets old…" He smiled. "Meditating, you were," he said quietly.

"So? What does that have to do-… wait… what?"

Yoda's smile broadened as his expression returned to the "I love to teach people" look. "What you just did," he explained, "meditating, it is called. A common practice among the Jedi, it is. Allows a Jedi to submerge themselves into the Force for a time, it does. Unusual, it is not, for a Jedi to see glimpses of the future, while meditating, he or she is." His head tilted slightly to his right. "Ever done this before, have you?"

_Glimpses of the future…_ Is that what he'd been seeing? _Seriously_? The _future_? "Uh… no, not really…"

Yoda's face clearly displayed his genuine curiosity. "Something similar to it, in Soul Society, is there?"

"No…"

Yoda was obviously surprised by his response. "Hmm…" He lowered his head and closed his eyes in thought.

Toshiro was growing uncomfortable rather quickly. The dream he had last night only served to confuse him even more. "That still doesn't explain why you're in my room," he said as he folded his arms.

"Yes, it does."

Toshiro furrowed his eyebrows at him. "How?"

Yoda let out a slow, heavy sigh. "A very strong mind, you have," he said quietly as he lifted his head and opened his eyes, his gaze resting square on Toshiro. "When meditates, one who is inexperienced and strong in the Force does, sense a small disturbance in the Force, some Jedi can."

"What do you mean, _inexperienced_?" Toshiro asked, only a tiny bit offended since he wasn't entirely certain what exactly he meant. "Inexperienced in what way?"

"In controlling their minds," he replied solemnly. "Exceptionally strong, your mind is. But know how to control it, you do not."

"And you're saying that's a bad thing?"

Yoda suddenly looked very serious. "Yes. Matter in Soul Society, it might not. But _here_, extremely dangerous, an uncontrolled mind can be. Why Jedi start their training so young, this is." His face softened a bit. "Apologize, I do, for walking out on our conversation yesterday. Done that, I should not have."

Toshiro was caught completely off guard by this sudden change in subjects. "Uh, er, don't worry about it," he said finally, that uncomfortable feeling growing again. "It's not like I haven't ever done that. But, if we're going to talk about that…" He looked Yoda in the eye. "Before you left, you were going to say something. What was it?"

Yoda nodded as he recalled their talk yesterday evening. "Going to tell you, I was, that taught to use Alter Mind with _extreme care_ and _caution_, all Jedi are. Strictly forbidden to use the Force to get personal gain, we all are. So worry about us using Alter Mind on you, you need not. Have any reason to use it on you, none of us do."

Toshiro swallowed. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"A personal question, may I ask you?"

Toshiro's eyes snapped up to Yoda, then flicked away. "Sure. But just because you ask me something, doesn't mean I'll give you an answer."

Yoda nodded in acknowledgement. "A member of the Council, there is, who is highly skilled in Alter Mind and creating illusions with the Force. When questioned you yesterday, we did, noticed, he did, that contain what he called 'hypnotic implants', your brain does. Wondering, I was, if elaborate on what exactly those are, you could."

Toshiro's body had tensed up at the mention of these "hypnotic implants". He was fairly certain that he knew what Yoda was talking about. And although he was shocked that they could pick up on something like that, he did _not_ want to talk about it. "Why do you want to know?" he asked.

Yoda's face was silently begging Toshiro to trust him. "Because, depending on what exactly they are, be able to help you, we might."

"How?"

"By teaching you how to control your mind."

Toshiro almost rolled his eyes. He _knew_ that simply learning how to "control his mind" could not do a darn thing to reverse what that blasted Aizen had done. "I don't want your help," he said finitely as he turned to leave.

l***l

Yoda's ear twitched in slight annoyance. He was _not_ about to let this boy just walk out on him like that. If he did, he'd lose the perfect opportunity to unlock the iron gates to Toshiro's heart. And that was simply not an option.

Using the Force to aid his aging body, Yoda instantly jumped forward, and firmly yet gently grabbed onto Toshiro's arm.

l***l

_A three-fingered, clawed hand latched onto his arm…_

Toshiro froze. Yoda's grip was _exactly_ where it had been in the dream. He didn't dare move. His heart started pounding. Sweat began to find its way to the surface of his skin. The dream played over and over in his mind, its meaning becoming more and more clear with each pass it made.

l***l

Yoda noticed that Toshiro had suddenly grown very frightened. He wasn't resisting, though, which was both odd and good. Yoda wondered for a second if Toshiro had seen this little scene while he was meditating. That would certainly explain his reaction, he thought, especially if he'd never seen a vision of the future before.

This was his chance. He had to let Toshiro know, right here and now, that he was _not_ going to give up on him, no matter how much Toshiro pushed him away. That was the key that the Force had been kind enough to show him in the dining hall yesterday. When the Twi'lek girl had offered to take Toshiro's tray back _after_ he had just verbally shoved the rest of the group away, he had been at a loss as to what he should do. He had been emotionally unstable. And if Yoda could get him into that point again, the rest, as far as he was concerned, would be smooth sailing.

"Toshiro," he said, his voice equally firm and pleading. "Let me help you."

l***l

_Yoda's face was sad again. "Let me help you," he pleaded._

This was just getting _way_ too creepy. What the crap was going on? Why, _how_, had he been able to see these exact same things in his dream? Did people with "strong minds" have visions of the future in their sleep, too?

The dream forced its way into his mind again. Suddenly, he understood. Those wounds on his arm hadn't been caused by Yoda – they'd been caused by _himself_. If he hadn't struggled so much to begin with, if he had just trusted those hands from the get-go, he would've been saved quickly, and with no injuries whatsoever.

Then, another meaning was brought to his attention, one that Yoda was apparently trying to tell him right now: Yoda was not going to give up on him. No matter how much he resisted, no matter how much tried to push Yoda away, Yoda was not going to simply throw in the towel and walk away. The more Toshiro resisted, the more Yoda would insist.

And in the end, no matter what Toshiro did, Yoda was going to win.

Toshiro closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" he asked quietly.

l***l

Yoda's ears raised at this. He had felt Toshiro's fear die down, but could easily tell that he wasn't quite where Yoda wanted him yet. He was still slightly unsure. Still, this simple question had surprised Yoda. He had assumed that Toshiro would try to push him away again. After all, he was a very strong-willed boy, at least from what Yoda could tell. The fact that he was already starting to submit to Yoda really made Yoda wonder if Toshiro had seen this whole ordeal in a vision.

But there was a problem with what he had asked, too. It implied that Yoda was trying to force his help onto Toshiro (which, in all honesty, he was, but in a non-controlling way). Yoda knew from centuries of experience that, if you really wanted to get someone to do something that they were reluctant to do, especially if they were strong-willed, then you had to make absolutely certain that they felt like it had been their choice to do it, and not that they had been forced into it.

He let go. "Always a choice, you have," he said warmly. "Stop trying to help you, I will not. But your choice to accept my help or not, it is."

Toshiro was silent for a few seconds. "Why do you even care?" he asked, his voice soft and sincere. "Why the heck are you trying to help me when you don't hardly even know me?"

Yoda's first semi-humorous thought was, "Because part of my job, it is," but he figured that wouldn't fly well with Toshiro. His next thought was, "Why not?", but then that would open the door for all kinds of excuses from Toshiro, and he didn't want to deal with that. No, he needed an analogy to explain this to him.

"If saw someone drowning, you did," he said finally, "let them drown, would you, even if know them, you did not?"

l***l

That was it.

That was just _it_.

This was getting way too weird. There was just no way! Yoda had touched on practically every part of his dream. Something had to be up. This was just way too much of a coincidence-

"Okay, are you?"

Toshiro turned to face Yoda. His face was a mixture of genuine concern, curiosity, and a touch of amusement. Toshiro swallowed. "Can you Jedi… make others dream about whatever you want?" he asked cautiously.

Yoda looked at him as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. Then be broke out into light laughter. "No, of course not," he chuckled. "Only use Alter Mind when the target is awake, we can. Prevent someone from waking up, we can, but affect what they dream about, we cannot." His expression grew more curious, and his tone more serious. "Why? A vision last night, did you have?"

Toshiro swallowed, then nodded. "I think so," he said quietly.

"Hmm."

Musical chimes sounded.

Yoda looked up and smiled at Toshiro. "Like to eat breakfast with Yaddle and I, would you?" he offered.

Toshiro didn't say anything. He just nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Momo lay on her bed, unsuccessfully trying to get some rest. Truth be told, she hadn't had a good night's sleep ever since she awoke from her coma some time ago. There were just too many questions swimming around in her head. She had hoped that her talk with Toshiro while he was in the Real World would clear them up, but since their conversation had been cut short by the Captain-Commander, she had actually ended up with more questions than answers.

At least she had gotten to apologize to him. That had been her number one priority. The last time they had spoken before then, she had been trying to kill him because she thought that he had murdered her Captain. And although he had forgiven her frankly and acted like it had never happened, she still silently scolded herself for turning on her childhood friend. _Stupid,_ she thought to herself. _Of course Hitsugaya-kun would never do something like that! You… you should know him better… than that…_

But then, why had Captain Aizen written that letter to her? Why had her Captain tried to make her think that Toshiro had killed him, when he wasn't even really dead? Why had he even faked his death in the first place?

Why had he stabbed her in the heart? Almost killed her?

Her first theory had been that the then-third squad's Captain, Gin Ichimaru, had forced Aizen to do all of those despicable things. But after she had divulged this theory to Toshiro, the Captain-Commander had cut her off, used Kido to knock her out, and ended the conversation. When she woke up only a few moments later, he sharply reprimanded her for what she had requested of Toshiro, and was very poignant about explaining to her that Aizen, not Gin, was the true mastermind behind their betrayal.

She still didn't get it. She had always admired her Captain, ever since she had first seen him at the Shinigami Academy. She had spent every spare moment of her free time improving her skills, just so she could work her way up to being his vice-captain. His warm voice, his large hand as it patted her head, even his smell had always had a way of wiping her heart clean of every heartache, every uncertainty, and every worry.

He had always been such a kind, warm, strong man. Even the night before she discovered the gruesome fake corpse of him pinned high up on the East Sacred Wall by a generic katana, blood spattered around it and running down to the ground, he had been kind enough to allow her to stay in his room all night just because she was worried. _"Do you think I would use rudeness as an excuse to turn you away?"_ he had said in response to her apologizing for wanting to speak with him so late at night. _"Do I seem that cold during the day?"_

_"Of-of course not!"_

_"Then, come on in… We can talk about anything you want until you feel better."_

That was the Aizen she knew. That was the Aizen she had admired and looked up to all those years. There was just no way he could do something so horrible!

But then… why did he?

She remembered what he had told her right before he stabbed her. She had been so overjoyed to see him alive, that she had walked right up to him, and had buried her face in his robes, as tears of joy and relief streamed down her face. _"I'm sorry,"_ he had said in his warm, soothing voice. _"I must have worried you… I'm really sorry, that I ended up hurting you this much. But I think you'll understand. There was no one but you. There was something I needed to do, so I had to fake my death, and you-"_

_"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore. Just the fact that you're alive, I don't need anything else…"_

_"Thank you, Hinamori-kun. I'm so glad to have you in my squad. Thank you, Hinamori-kun. Truly, thank you._

_Goodbye."_

And he stabbed her. Right in the heart.

She was convinced that if Aizen had done this of his own accord, then he must have had a really good reason behind it, something that would eventually work for the greater good of Soul Society. She had told Toshiro that, too. She had asked him to save Aizen. From what, she still wasn't sure; from Gin if he was being manipulated, or from the rest of the Shinigami if there really was a good reason behind this.

But her request had caused something else that had produced a whole new slew of questions, something that she hadn't really noticed until after the conversation was over. Before she had brought up Aizen, Toshiro had seemed generally happy to see her. He even teased her about her small breasts just to get her to stop crying, then corrected her calling him "Hitsugaya-kun" and told her to call him "Captain Hitsugaya" instead, all while having a smirking smile on his face. But as soon as she'd mentioned Aizen, his smile had vanished. At first he looked shocked, but as she rapidly explained her theories to him, the shock had quickly given way to anger.

He hadn't had time to respond before the Captain-Commander had cut her off.

That's why she needed to talk to him. She needed to know why he had been so angry. Was he angry at Aizen? Or was it something else? If he was angry at Aizen, then why? Couldn't he see how incapable Aizen was of doing something so horrible of his own will without a good reason? Wasn't he the one that had tried to convince her that there was no way Aizen would write a letter like the one that had convinced her that Toshiro was the one who had killed her Captain?

Her cell phone was right by her bed, within arms reach. _Please call me soon, Hitsugaya-kun,_ she thought as her eyes closed.

l***l

Toshiro sat next to Yoda and across from Yaddle at a small-ish table in the dining hall, slowly eating his food. He wasn't sure if this was because of their ability to read minds or not, but the two little Jedi had been gracious enough to not turn breakfast into an interrogation. Instead, they talked casually with each other, never really addressing Toshiro directly, but not shunning or ignoring him, either. It was obvious by the number of inside jokes and mini-banters they exchanged that they had been close friends for a very long time.

Toshiro found himself desperately trying to come up with something to say. It's not that he wanted to be included in the conversation at all; his mind was just still digesting everything that had happened since last night, and he wanted to get more information and answers to his questions. He remembered Yoda saying something about how they might be able to help him with the "hypnotic implants", and now, after he realized that his "dream" was actually a "vision", he was seriously starting to wonder if that's what his vision had been referring to.

Each of them were only a few bites away from being done when he finally figured out what he wanted to say. He politely waited for a break in the conversation, then spoke, his voice flat and quiet. "Yoda told me that you guys might be able to help me with the 'hypnotic implants' in my brain."

Neither of them looked the least bit surprised that he had actually said something. Yaddle nodded as she swallowed what was in her mouth. "True, that is," she said in acknowledgement. "Tell you now I will, though, that able to remove them, we are not. Too dangerous for your mind, it would be."

"Well, then how are you supposed to help me?" His voice only showed a hint of skepticism.

"Teach you to override them for a short period of time, we might be able to," she explained after swallowing her last bite. "But depends, that does, on what exactly they are, as well as how quickly you learn and how willing you will be to go through the training."

Toshiro mused on this as he chewed his last bite. Even if that's all they could do (if it was even possible), that would still make a huge difference. He swallowed. "In that case, I don't mind telling you guys what they are, just as long as it's the two of you with no one else around. I don't mind if you guys tell the rest of the Council, either. It's just… a really touchy subject for me."

A rolling droid-slash-cart came to a stop by their table. "Finished, are you?" Yoda asked as he set his dishes on the droid/cart. Toshiro nodded, and Yoda set his dishes on the cart, too. Yaddle had done the same with her dishes. Once all the dishes were loaded on, the droid/cart rolled away.

"Does that thing go to all the tables?" Toshiro asked, not remembering ever having seen it before.

"No," Yoda said as he slid off of his seat and plopped onto the floating chair thing that he'd ridden here (which was apparently called a hover chair). "Only to this table, it comes."

"Why?"

"Too old and lazy Yoda is to take them back himself," Yaddle teased.

Yoda flashed an "_Excuse_ me?" look at her, the shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Yaddle, Yaddle," his said in a disapproving parental voice. "Just because jealous of my hover chair you are, doesn't mean that take it out on me by teasing me about my age, you should."

Yaddle cocked an eyebrow at him. "As if want to have to use a machine to make it to Council meetings on time, I would!"

Yoda smiled, then gave up on the duel of words and turned to Toshiro. "Have a preference on where we talk, do you?" he asked courteously.

Toshiro shook his head. "No. As long as it's just the three of us, I don't really care."

Yoda nodded, then turned and began hovering away, Yaddle and Toshiro following closely behind.

l***l

Toshiro once again found himself in the same room where he and Yoda had had their first talk. Everything was pretty much the same, except that Yaddle was now sharing Yoda's large round cushion. "Ready, we are, when ready, you are," Yoda said warmly.

Toshiro nodded, then thought for a moment about where he should start and how to explain it. "In my demonstration yesterday," he said finally, "towards the end, you saw me do what is called a zanpakuto release. I never really got a chance to tell you this, but zanpakutos are not normal swords. They have souls, names, and powers that are born from the soul of their wielder. My zanpakuto's name is Hyorinmaru. As you saw yesterday, its power is to create an ice-water dragon out of my own overflowing reiatsu."

He took a deep breath before continuing on to the more sensitive topic. "If these 'hypnotic implants' are what I think they are, then they were put into my brain because of the power of someone else's zanpakuto. That person's name is Sosuke Aizen. Aizen… used to be the Captain of the fifth squad, not more then three months ago. Back then, everyone believed that his zanpakuto's power was to use water droplets to reflect light and create illusions. But recently, it's been discovered that that's not the case.

"His zanpakuto's true ability is something that he calls complete hypnosis. Basically, if you see him release his zanpakuto even once, he can use its power to control all five senses, and thus, can make you mistake the appearance, shape, mass, texture, and even smell of an object. This makes it possible for him to make a stone look like a person, or a desert like a forest, for example. Also, once you see its release even once, every time that he releases it afterwards, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you still fall under its spell."

A heavy silence filled the room for a moment as the two Jedi contemplated what he just said. "No wonder so instinctively protective of your mind, you are," Yoda said quietly.

Toshiro suddenly wanted to tell them everything. No, "wanted" isn't the right word; "was compelled" would probably be more accurate. Something inside him was pushing him to tell them the whole story. And it was pushing _hard_.

Toshiro closed his eyes. "Aizen was a well loved Captain," he said finally. "Practically every single Shinigami looked up to him. As far as we knew, he was a warm, strong, compassionate, level-headed, and intelligent man. It was near impossible to find anything _not_ to like about him. But that all changed about a month or two ago.

"A Shinigami was put on death roe for giving her powers to a human, which is a felony in Soul Society. Normally, a judgment like that could only be given by the Office of 46, which is Soul Society's highest judicial body. However, this particular Shinigami had an object imbedded in her (against her own knowledge) that could basically 'Hollow-ify' a Shinigami, or 'Shinigami-ify' a Hollow, either of which would result in an amazingly powerful being. Apparently, as soon as this Shinigami was located in the Real World (she had gone missing after she gave her powers to the human), Aizen, who wanted this object for himself, slaughtered the Office of 46, and used his zanpakuto's power to make it seem like it was still up and running.

"Of course, no one had any idea at the time that the real Office of 46 was dead, so when the date of her execution kept getting changed to sooner and sooner dates, only a few of us realized that something was up. Aizen pretended to be one of them. He also had two other captains as accomplices. One of them was the third squad's Captain, Gin Ichimaru. Aizen apparently had Ichimaru act all suspicious in order to draw attention away from himself. It worked, too. I suspected Ichimaru from the get-go, and so did most (if not all) of the other captains.

"To complicate matters, the human who'd been given Shinigami powers infiltrated Soul Society with a few of his friends in order to save the Shinigami who had given him her powers. Everyone was so concerned with getting rid of these few people that hardly anything was done when a gruesome fake corpse of Aizen was found in a place that is rarely seen by anyone aside from captains, vice-captains, and guards."

Toshiro swallowed. This was where it got personal. "The fifth squad's Vice-captain is Momo Hinamori. Before either of us became Shinigami, she used to live with my granny and I. She's admired Aizen ever since she first saw him. And when I say admire, I mean it to the point where she practically worked her self to death just so she could become his Vice-captain.

"After the fake corpse of Aizen was found, I searched Aizen's room and found a letter addressed to her. Looking back on it now, I probably should've just read the darned thing before I gave it to her. But I didn't because I wanted to be respectful. Anyways, the letter basically said that the reason the execution date kept getting moved closer was because someone wanted to use the power in the execution weapon to take over Soul Society. And it claimed that that someone was me.

"The letter went on to say that Aizen had supposedly challenged me to a duel, and basically asked Hinamori to kill me if I killed him. Well, since everyone thought that he was dead, Hinamori thought that I had killed him, and because she was so attached to her Captain, she attacked me and tried to kill me. I tried to explain to her that the Aizen I knew would never write a letter like that, but it was written in his handwriting, so she just wouldn't hear it. I never pulled my sword on her, and I never really meant to hurt her, but I had to knock her out of the way once, and either I just hit her too hard or she was just way over stressed or something, because that one hit knocked her out cold.

"As I said earlier, I suspected Ichimaru from the get-go. I also suspected him to be the real author of the letter and the true killer of Aizen (of which he was neither). When Aizen's fake corpse had been discovered, I had warned Ichimaru that if he made Hinamori shed one drop of blood, I'd kill him. Well, while she was fighting me, Hinamori had been clutching her sword so tightly that blood had oozed out of her hands. Ichimaru happened to be right there, so I took the opportunity make good of the warning I'd given him. I won't go into the details of our battle, but basically what ended up happening was I was almost about to give Ichimaru a fatal blow when he attacked Hinamori. I couldn't get in between his attack and her in time, but thankfully my own Vice-captain, Rangiku Matsumoto, stepped in and blocked his attack. He left after that, and Matsumoto and I took Hinamori to our squad's main building to recoup.

"I left Hinamori in our squad building thinking she'd be safe, then took Matsumoto with me to talk to the Office of 46 about the letter that I suspected had be forged by Ichimaru. Since Aizen can apparently only disguise one thing or area at a time, the day before his fake corpse was found (which was really just a disguise made by his zanpakuto), he had put the area that contains the Office of 46 into complete isolation, and no one at all was allowed to approach. But I felt that this was urgent enough to force my way into their assembly hall and talk to them whether I was allowed to or not. When Matsumoto and I got there and discovered that they had all been killed much earlier, we also found the third squad's Vice-captain, Izuru Kira, and followed him back outside when he fled.

"While we were chasing Kira, he told us that Hinamori had been hiding her reiatsu and following us the whole way. I left him to Matsumoto and turned around to try and find Hinamori, and to make sure no one hurt her." His fists clenched. "I couldn't have been more than a minute too late. By the time I found her, Aizen had already shown his true colors by stabbing her in the heart.

"After assuring me that he was actually Aizen (because I thought he'd been killed), he proceeded to explain to me that he had basically been using and manipulating Hinamori all those years because he knew how much she admired him. I attacked him. But I didn't know what his zanpakuto's true ability was, so within ten seconds I was on the ground with a fatal wound that would've killed me had the Captain and Vice-captain of the relief squad not arrived about that same time.

"I only know what happened afterward from what I've been told. Apparently, Aizen got the object he wanted without having to kill the Shinigami. He and his accomplices fled to Hueco Mundo, and now he's using this object to create an army of 'Shinigami-ified' Hollows to basically take over Soul Society." He left out a couple big details at the end, just because he was tired of talking, and they didn't really need to know these details to get the jest of what was going on.

There was another thick silence. Yoda and Yaddle's faces were overflowing with sympathy. "Survive, did your friend, Aizen's Vice-captain?" Yoda asked tenderly.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah, she's fine now. But… I don't think she knows all of what happened after she was stabbed. Last time I talked to her about it, she… she thinks that either Aizen was forced into this by Ichimaru, or that Aizen somehow has a good reason behind what he's doing. She's basically the only Shinigami in existence now who doesn't hate Aizen's guts. If she had just stayed conscious for three more minutes…" His voice trailed off.

l***l

Had Toshiro been a Jedi of any rank, Yoda would've lectured him to the Netherworld of the Force and back. But he wasn't a Jedi, and he was not in any way ready to be lectured. Yoda could tell that Toshiro was already scolding himself for the mistakes he made. And for now, that was enough.

Well, almost.

Yoda could easily tell that Toshiro was _very_ attached to and over-protective of this Vice-captain friend. Seriously, threatening to _kill_ someone just because he had supposedly made her bleed? That was way over the top. But still, Yoda could sense that this boy's emotional wellbeing depended greatly on her overall wellbeing. And that meant that one very important thing had to be done before they could even begin to help him. "Contact her from here, can you?"

Toshiro looked up at Yoda in surprise, then blinked his eyes away. He nodded. "Yeah. I actually planned on calling her today. I never did get a chance to tell her… all the crap that Aizen said…"

"If leave now, we do, call her, will you?"

Toshiro once again looked at Yoda in surprise, but held the gaze this time as he nodded. "Yeah, that… would actually be really nice…"

"Then leave you, we will." Yoda slid awkwardly off of the cushion, and Yaddle did the same. "Stay in here for as long as you like, you can. When finished you are, feel free to look for either of us. Be able to find us with that reiatsu sensing ability of yours, you should." That last line had been said with a very slight hint of mirth, so as to hopefully lighten the mood a little bit.

Toshiro managed to give them a grateful half-smile as they walked out the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Toshiro stared at the closed cell phone in his hands. He knew what he had to tell Momo, and he wanted her to know… but… he knew that it would hurt her. Really, really bad. He didn't know what (if anything) Aizen had told her before he'd stabbed her, but he got the feeling that he'd been manipulating her right up to the end. Hearing what Aizen had told him would no doubt be like stabbing her in the heart again, except with words instead of a sword. And as much as he did _not_ want to bring her that kind of pain, he wanted more for her to know the truth. It may hurt her now, but he knew it'd be much better for her in the long run.

Finally, he opened the phone and dialed her number. It's funny, he had it perfectly memorized even though he never really used it. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he brought the phone up to his ear.

It barely rang once before she answered. "Hello?" Her voice was very anxious, as if she'd been hoping that a certain someone was going to call her, and was now entertaining the thought that this might be them.

He couldn't really help it, but the first thing out of his mouth was, "You'd better be getting lots of rest, Hinamori."

She gasped a little, as if this had been the person she'd been waiting to hear from. "Hitsugaya-kun!"

Inward sigh. The sound of her sweet voice was so indescribably wonderful. He decided to tease her a bit, partly to start things off on a good note, and partly just to hear her voice before it was inevitably polluted by tears. "I've told you, it's _Captain_ Hitsugaya. Sheesh, how many times am I gonna have to say it before it gets through that thick, girl skull of yours?"

His taunt worked. "H-hey! What does being a girl have to do with it? And who says I have thick skull? You're more stubborn and thick-headed than I am!"

He smiled. Maybe it was just part of him being a kid, but something about teasing and getting a good reaction like that out of her just brought him _way_ too much gratification. He sighed as he forced himself to move on to the real reason for the call. "Matsumoto said you wanted to… finish the conversation we had, while I was in the Real World."

This apparently caught her off guard, but she quickly adjusted. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Um… I just wanted to know… if you were going to say something… before the Captain-Commander cut me off…"

"Yeah," he replied solemnly. "I was. But… you have to know, Hinamori, that this isn't going to be easy for you to hear. It's going to hurt. A lot." His one empty fist clenched in dread at the thought of causing her pain. "But you have to know. I really didn't want to have to be the one to tell you this, but since it's obvious that no one else has, I… don't really have a choice…"

"What is it?" Her question had been asked in a tone that was a cross of parental-like concern and child-like worry.

He swallowed, and took a deep, slow breath. This was it. "I'm going to tell you… what happened… after Aizen stabbed you."

A small gasp of shock, then silence. "Wh-what do you mean, 'what happened'? I-"

"Hinamori," he interrupted, his voice firm but soft. "If I'm going to tell you this, then you need to be quiet and listen. Understand?"

She was quiet for a few seconds. "Okay," she said finally, her voice low and obviously worried.

He thought for a moment. "Hinamori, how far did you follow Matsumoto and I, exactly?"

"Um… until you and her started chasing after Kira-kun… why? Did Kira-kun do something?"

"No, not really. He actually apologized and redeemed himself the next day. Apparently, he'd only been doing what Ichimaru told him to, and wasn't actually part of what was going on. But… he was the one who told me that you'd been following us. You… really shouldn't have broken through that Kido barrier I put on your room, Hinamori. I put that there to protect you from outside attacks, not to keep you locked in. The fact that it was Kyomon, a barrier that is highly resistant to outside attacks, but is easily broken from the inside, should've made that obvious."

"I-I know, Hitsugaya-kun… I'm really sorry… I-"

"Hinamori."

"…yes?"

"When Kira told us that you'd been behind us the whole time…" He swallowed. "I left him to Matsumoto… turned around… and went after you."

She gasped. "You…!" Apparently, no one had told her that he'd done that.

"By the time I got there… Aizen… had already stabbed you…"

He could hear her shallow, trembling breaths. "What… did he say? Did he say anything to you?" She sounded almost desperate.

"Yeah. He said _plenty_."

She was obviously confused as well as worried. "What do you mean?"

He paused. This was the part he knew would make her cry. He remembered his last conversation with Aizen in perfect traumatic detail. And now, he had to recite it to Momo. "When I first saw him, I asked him if he was really Aizen, since I still thought he was dead. He told me, 'Of course. As you can see, I'm the real thing.' Then he said, 'Although, your return was much earlier than expected.' Then, Ichimaru apologized for Kira's diversion not being good enough. I asked them what they heck they were talking about. Aizen said, 'Just some strategy. Division of the enemy's forces is the first step of battle strategy, isn't it?'"

He could hear her breath caught in her throat. "_Enemy?_" she asked breathlessly.

"That's exactly what I said. Then I demanded to know where you were. To that, Aizen said, 'Well, where could she be…' That's when I realized that you were in the room behind them. I used Shunpo to get by them. When… when I saw you…" He was trembling now. He knew that Aizen's next line would wound her more than anything else. "Aizen said, 'Too bad. You've found her. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.

"'I suppose I should have at least ground her to dust so you wouldn't find her.'"

l***l

Momo gasped. Images of her blood running down Aizen's zanpakuto as it stabbed her in the heart started flashing through her mind. That… that couldn't be right! Captain Aizen… wouldn't say something like that! "B-but, before he, he stabbed me, he, he said that he was glad t-to have me, in his squad!" She didn't know what to do, think, or feel. What Toshiro had just said went against everything, _everything_, she knew about her Captain.

But… the last time she hadn't believed Toshiro… she had broken through the barrier that he'd put on her room to protect her, and followed him, still convinced that he'd killed Aizen…

And then… Aizen had…

l***l

Toshiro was fuming inside. _Girl, you'd better darn well believe me this time,_ he thought desperately. "You want to know _why_ he was _so glad_ to have you in his squad, Hinamori?" he asked, his voice a little darker than he'd intended. "'Cause he told me that, too. He said, 'There's no one so easy to control as someone who admires you. That's why I pressed to have her as my subordinate.'"

She gasped again, her gasp on the verge of shrieking. "Hinamori," he said, no longer able to stop his own voice from trembling. "Aizen was _using_ you. He knew how much you admired him, and he used that to manipulate you for his own purposes. _That_ is what I wanted to tell you last time, when I was in the Real World. He wasn't being forced by Ichimaru. And he does _not_ have a good reason for what he did to you." Those last two words had been a Freudian slip on his part, but he didn't really care at the moment. "Hinamori," he said, his voice softer, but still trembling slightly, "when we talked, you asked me to save Aizen. But I _can't_ save him. It would be inaccurate to say that the Aizen we knew is dead. The truth is, the Aizen we _both_ knew, the man that we _both_ looked up to, never even existed to begin with. It was all an act. A trick. And you… me… _everyone_… fell for it."

She was whimpering now. They were the kind of whimpers that were meant to hold back larger amounts of tears. He didn't want to hear her actual sobs. He was horrible at comforting people anyway, so it's not like staying on the line would help her any. "Hinamori, I have to go now," he half-lied. "But, if you ever want to call me about this, or anything, really, you can. You… don't have to worry about interrupting me. You can call me any time. Okay?"

It took her a moment to respond. "O…ok-kay…"

"Take care, Hinamori." He hung up. But something was wrong. He couldn't just leave her there, utterly heartbroken and comfortless. If _he_ couldn't comfort her, then someone else had to. Someone who could relate to her situation, who could understand what she was going through.

And he knew the perfect person for the job.

l***l

Rangiku was just about to take a shopping break from the boring paperwork (even though she'd only been working on it for like ten minutes), when her cell phone rang. She answered it. "Hello?"

"Matsumoto, I need you to do me a huge favor."

"Captain!" Wait… _what_ did he just say? "A _favor?_ What kind of favor?"

"I need you to go talk to Hinamori for me."

"Talk to Hinamori for you?" She was confused. "But how am I supposed to do that when I don't even know what you guys talked about while we were in the Real World?"

"Idiot, we just finished talking about that!" He sighed. "I just need you to go talk to her. Now."

For the very first time, Rangiku noticed the strain in his voice. "Captain… are you okay? What exactly did you guys talk about?"

Silence. "Just go talk to her." Click.

"Capt-!" Rangiku pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen for a second or two before closing it. She knew from experience that this was her Captain's way of saying, "I don't have the time and/or patience to deal with your usual string of questions right now, so just do what I said." _I wonder what they were talking about that got the Captain so worked up,_ she thought as she made her way towards Momo's room.

l***l

Momo screamed.

She was completely lost. Her thoughts and emotions were both all over the place.

Aizen… had…

She screamed again. Her heart didn't want to believe it, but both her head _and_ her heart were afraid _not_ to.

She heard a knock at the door.

l***l

"Hinamori?" Rangiku was _really_ worried now. What on Earth had gotten the both of them so worked up? "Hinamori, I'm coming in," she said when Momo didn't answer.

Momo was sitting on her bed, screaming, tears streaming down her face. Rangiku rushed to her side, her rare compassionate side instantly taking over her conscious mind. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" she asked desperately. "What did you and my Captain talk about?"

Momo was barely able to choke it out before screaming again. "Ai…z-zen…"

Suddenly, Toshiro's request made sense. Perfect sense.

Rangiku sat on the bed right next to Momo, then held her close in a very motherly sort of way. "Shh," she crooned softly. "Shh…"

l***l

Momo's screams began to gradually morph into heavy sobs. Every single memory she had of Aizen began running through her mind in chronological order, with Toshiro's words echoing in the background: _"Aizen was _using_ you. He knew how much you admired him, and he used that to manipulate you for his own purposes."_

_Using you… manipulate you… his own purposes…_

Then, Aizen's voice: _"I suppose I should have at least ground her to dust so you wouldn't find her. There's no one so easy to control as someone who admires you. That's why I pressed to have her as my subordinate."_

_Ground her to dust… easy to control… my subordinate…_

She couldn't stand it. This pain… it was like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, thrown in a blender, and then stuck back in place. She was having two separate conversations with herself: one with her head, and one with her heart. Her heart had proven to be so totally confused and messed up that she'd switched her main focus to her head. At least her head was making some sense.

As she thought back over the past few months, she began to see more and more evidence in support of Toshiro's claim. The way Aizen wouldn't tell her why he'd been acting so strange ever since Rukia-san was put on death roe. The letter he'd written to her that had turned her on Toshiro. The way he'd sweet-talked her into coming within stabbing range of him.

But perhaps the most convincing point had absolutely nothing to do with Aizen. It had to do with Toshiro. She remembered his face when she'd pointed her sword at him, how utterly shocked and… _frightened_… he'd looked. She realized now that he'd never pulled his sword on her. Never even reached for it. He'd just stared at her with those shocked, desperate eyes, dodging as she swung her own sword at him. A realization hit her, one that probably wouldn't have had Toshiro not confessed that he'd turned around and went after her. It hit her hard in the stomach.

That face… _his_ face when she'd pointed her sword at him… had been the same as hers probably was when Aizen had stabbed her. The same confusion. The same, "But… I'd do _anything_ for you… so… why are you… attacking me…?"

She'd only seen it for a few seconds, but it had definitely been there. That face, combined with his trembling, strained, slightly frustrated voice on the phone, had convinced her that he was telling the truth. Plus, she'd known the kid practically his entire life. He had never, _ever_, lied to her about _anything_ like that. In fact, she couldn't even remember him lying to her _period_.

But that was only her head's side of things.

Her heart was still ripped to shreds. She didn't know who to trust anymore. Aizen had seemed like such a good person. If he had really been so twisted and evil, then who _could_ she trust? He had always been perfection in her eyes. If you can't look up to perfection, who _could_ you look up to? He had been her strong, unmovable shoulder to lean on. Who could she lean on now? Who was there to possibly fill the gaping hole in her heart? Who could she trust to take care of her wounded soul?

Rangiku rocked her gently in her arms. "Shh," she cooed softly as Momo's sobs finally started to die down. "That's it. Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Momo sniffled as she struggled to find her voice. "I… I don't… get it… How… how could… Aizen…"

l***l

Rangiku sighed. "I know how you feel," she said quietly. "I used to ask those same questions… about Ichimaru…"

Momo sat up and looked at Rangiku in surprise. "Ichimaru?"

Rangiku nodded. "Yeah. Gin… Ichimaru… was the very first person I'd ever met. I'd been completely alone up until then. We were both probably about my Captain's age at the time. I'd fainted from hunger, and he… he saved my life…"

Momo's face was fixed on Rangiku, as if she were a child listening to Rangiku tell some tragic fairy-tale. "Rangiku-san…"

"When this whole thing started," she continued, "and everyone started blaming Gin for everything… I have to admit, I was really skeptical that it had actually been him. I still knew him as the boy who had saved me, all those years ago. At least… until his fight with my Captain.

"My Captain had told me to return to the squad building without him. At first, I complied. But when I felt him release Hyorinmaru, I just had to go back. The Captain never releases his zanpakuto unless the situation's serious. When I got there, my Captain was about to kill Gin, and I probably would've stopped him… had Gin not released his own zanpakuto right then.

"I don't know if you've ever seen it, Hinamori, but Gin's zanpakuto's ability makes his blade grow as long as he wants, stabbing (and often killing) anything and everything in its path. At first it was headed straight for my Captain, but when he barely dodged it in time… Gin… let it keep going… and, if I hadn't stepped in and blocked it… it would've stabbed you right in the head."

Momo gasped. "Rangiku-san! You-"

"Don't worry about it," she replied through a half-forced smile. "Besides, if I had just stood there and let you die, my Captain would've never forgiven me for it. But anyway…" She sighed. "When I saw how Gin had stooped so low as to attack an unconscious Shinigami with the intent to kill her… that's when I realized, when I really, fully realized, that he wasn't the Gin I knew anymore." Her brow furrowed a bit. "And I decided, from that moment on, that whenever I looked at him, I would see him as the person he is now, not as what he used to be."

Momo blinked a few more tears out of her eyes as she shifted her gaze downward. "How… how did you do it, Rangiku-san? You… *sniff* … you don't even seem… upset…"

Rangiku sighed. "It's not as easy as it looks," she admitted. "And it's probably going to be even harder for you, with how close you were to your Captain…"

Momo shook her head almost violently. "I… I wasn't… close to him…" she said through the tears. "I… I thought I was, but… Hitsugaya-kun… Hitsugaya-kun said that Aizen… was using me… and I… I have to believe him… this time… I…" The tears increased a bit. "I… I really want to believe Hitsugaya-kun… I know he wouldn't lie to me…" She let out a few sobs. "I just feel… so empty… and I… I don't know what to do…" She fell back into Rangiku's embrace and started crying again.

Rangiku held her again. "Well, there's one thing I can guarantee you," she said comfortingly.

Momo looked up almost desperately at her. "What is it?"

Rangiku smiled at her. "That my Captain will _always_, no matter what the situation, act with _your_ best interest in mind."

Momo blinked. "R-really?"

Rangiku nodded. "Yep. Don't tell him I told you this, but, he has a real soft spot for you. In fact, he'd… probably give his life for you, if it came down to it."

Momo blinked again in surprise, then lowered her gaze. _Hitsugaya-kun…_

The room was silent for a moment. "Hey! It's lunchtime!" Rangiku announced suddenly. "How about you come over and eat lunch with my squad?" she offered enthusiastically. "I'm cooking!"

Momo was startled, but quickly adjusted and smiled a little at Rangiku's offer. "Thank you, Rangiku-san, that's awfully nice of you, but-"

"Aw, come on!" Rangiku said as she stood up. "I insist!" She grabbed Momo's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"W-wait, Rangiku-san-!"

But it was no use; Rangiku was already half-dragging her towards the tenth squad's building.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Toshiro sat on the large cushion for a few minutes after he got off the phone with Rangiku. He felt much better now that he knew that Rangiku was going to be the one comforting Momo. After all, his Vice-captain _was_ at least as loyal as she was annoying (if not more). She had solidly proven that to him on many occasion.

He put his cell phone away and walked out the door, completely and expertly masking his reiatsu as he did so. It didn't take long for him to pick up traces of Yoda's reiatsu. He followed it to a large room with several smaller rooms branching off of it. Yoda's reiatsu was in one of the smaller rooms.

The door to the smaller room was open. As Toshiro approached, he could tell that there was a class in session. _That's right,_ he thought as he peered into the doorway at an angle that had him out of sight of Yoda. _While Yoda and Yaddle were talking at breakfast today, they mentioned the "youngling" class he taught. This must be it._

Toshiro watched these kids (who were all obviously younger than he was) with great interest. It was weird watching this classroom full of kids, all of them learning what was apparently one of the Jedis' main combat skills. Back when he'd been training at the Shinigami Academy, he'd been by far the youngest one in the class, since everyone had to take an entrance exam to get into the school. The fact that he'd not only gotten into the school at such a remarkably young age, but had also gotten a perfect score on the entrance exam, graduated top of his class, and had eventually become by far the youngest captain in the history of Soul Society, had given him the unofficial title of "boy genius" and/or "child prodigy".

The lesson had apparently just started. Yoda explained to his class that today they were going to learn how to move objects with the Force, a technique that was called telekinesis. Toshiro paid especially close attention now. After all, the key to understanding any kind of power or ability always lay in the basics.

Yoda told them to clear their minds, and "let the Force flow through" them. Then he told them to picture the small object that sat in front of them in their minds. He reminded them to _focus_, to concentrate, to not let their minds wander or stray from the task at hand. Then, he told them to picture the object rising, slowly, just about a decimeter or so off of the ground.

Toshiro focused all of his attention on picking up every single bit of information he could through all of his senses. What he discovered was rather surprising, in a very simple – and _unexpected_ – way. As he watched a few of the objects rise, he realized that each kid was using his or her own reiatsu to lift the object from the ground. What really stunned him was that he'd actually seen this done in Soul Society before; not as an actual ability and most certainly not in the same way these kids were doing it, but he _had_ seen someone move an object with nothing more than their own reiatsu. The funny thing was, the person who'd done it hadn't even really been trying to move anything (and he most _certainly_ hadn't been focusing on it).

That person had been the eleventh squad's Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki. He was famous for many things, one of them being that he'd become a Captain without ever learning how to release his zanpakuto (which was almost always a requirement). He _loved_ fighting, and would always seek out the strongest opponent in order to get more of a challenge (and to "have more fun"). He also had an enormous reiatsu, so much so that he usually wore a special eye patch that was designed to eat up a good chunk of it. Once, in the midst of a battle, he had somehow gotten underneath a tower, and had lifted the entire thing by merely removing his eye patch and letting his reiatsu poor out of him.

Surely, there had to be a connection.

Toshiro continued to observe the class for another five minutes or so. Then, as Yoda started going around to each student and giving them individual advice, he turned around, and headed back to his room.

l***l

Yoda's ear twitched. His head snapped up just in time to see Toshiro walking away from the open door. Yoda stared after him, surprised that he hadn't sensed the boy's presence. How long had he been standing there, anyway? _Hm… pay him a visit after my class, I think I will,_ he thought as he returned his attention to his students.

l***l

He was just too dang curious.

Toshiro sat on the bed in his temporary room, his curiosity itching furiously.

He just had to try it.

He looked around his room for something small and hardy that he could practice on. He opened the top drawer of the dresser to find a rubber ball nestled in one of the corners. He bounced it on the floor a time or two. This worked.

He set it on the floor, then sat in front of it. He closed his eyes. _Clear your mind._ He took slow, deep breaths, recalling his experience from earlier that morning. Soon he could feel that peace envelop his soul again, instantly crowding out every thought and care, until his mind was completely clear once more.

_Let the Force flow through you._ Slowly and carefully, he allowed his reiatsu to seep out and into the peace that surrounded him. It mixed into the peace like a dye would mix with water. He noticed that when he did this, his reiatsu felt different than it normally did. Usually, his reiatsu would just pour out of him like water from a faucet, and he had basically no control over where it "went" or what it "did". But now, he could tell that he had that control.

_Picture the object in your mind. Focus. Concentrate._ He could see the rubber ball in his mind's eye as it sat on the floor in front of him. He focused on it. Concentrated. He handled it with his mind, feeling its texture, mass, and even temperature.

_Imagine the object slowly lifting off the ground._ As he held the ball in the hands of his mind, he slowly lifted it up, off the ground, until it was eye level with him. He held it there while he mentally prepared himself to open his eyes. He made up his mind that he was not going to be startled by whatever he saw, whether the ball was in the air, or on the ground.

He opened his eyes. The ball was levitating in front of him. Right where he'd pictured it.

He felt wonderful. Never before had he felt so _in control_. For the first time in a long time, he actually _felt_ as young as he was. He felt like a complete kid. And, even more amazing, he was completely fine with it. He didn't feel like he had to "keep up" with the other Captains. He could just be himself. No one could judge him now.

He decided to take his little experiment a bit further. Gently, he used his reiatsu to "push" the ball away from him. Towards him. To the left. Right. Up. Down. Around in a circle. Around the other way. The ball drew numbers in the air. Spelled out his name. Momo's name. Their names together. Hyorinmaru. Kusaka. Soul Society. In other words, just about anything he could think of.

He was so engulfed in moving the ball with his mind that he barely even noticed when the door opened and a familiar reiatsu walked in. It took his mind a minute or two to recognize who it was. Suddenly, he jumped, lost all concentration, and let the ball fall to the ground and bounce to a stop. "Y-Yoda!" he exclaimed in surprise. He suddenly felt like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Uh… what are you doing here?"

Yoda looked just as shocked as Toshiro. His gaze shifted from Toshiro, to the ball, and back. "What _doing_ here, are _you_?" he asked playfully.

Toshiro had a feeling that Yoda's question was rhetorical. "Uh… well…"

Yoda smiled with mirth. "Do that again," he half-asked-half-ordered.

Toshiro took it as an order, and obediently nodded and returned his attention to the rubber ball. He cleared his mind. Let his reiatsu seep out of him. Then, his eyes open, he gently nudged the rubber ball with his reiatsu. It rolled towards him. He slowly lifted it into the air, then began to move it as he had before.

l***l

Yoda watched Toshiro move the ball in utter astonishment. No _way_! This was far beyond amazing. Never, _ever_, in all his years as a Jedi, had he _ever_ seen _anyone_ learn how to use the Force for the very first time _so quickly_! All Toshiro had done (at least as far as he knew) was eavesdrop on his youngling class probably just long enough to hear the most basic of instructions, and now, here he was, moving this ball with a level of care and exactness that usually only came after weeks, months, and even years of practice.

And then there was the matter of this morning. Toshiro had only been in this dimension for less than three days, and he was already having visions of the future. Plus, he'd meditated for a good long while without even being aware of what he was doing.

The rusty old gears in Yoda's head began turning, having been recently lubricated by this boy's obvious and extreme talent for the Force. "Ever done this before, have you?" he asked quietly, trying to avoid distracting Toshiro.

Toshiro held out his hand, and dropped the ball into it. "No," he replied. "I've… seen a person move an object with their reiatsu before, but, it was basically an accident, and… it wasn't _anything_ like this…"

Yoda's smile broadened. He suddenly remembered that he wanted to ask Toshiro how his talk with his friend had gone, but wisely decided to let that wait for now. "Come," he said merrily as he turned and walked out the door.

His heart smiled with relief when Toshiro didn't hesitate to follow him.

l***l

The Supreme Chancellor sat behind his desk in his office. His fingers were spread and touching at the tips. He was thinking. Not about anything that had to do with the Senate or the Republic, at least, not directly. But instead, his thoughts were once again drawn to the white-haired, human-looking boy that had fallen out of the sky and collided with his speeder the day before yesterday. He hadn't been driving at the time, of course; he had all sorts of assistants to help him with those kinds of everyday tasks. But he _had_ seen the boy.

His driver, on the other hand, _hadn't_.

That still baffled him. How was it possible that his driver hadn't seen the boy as he collided with and toppled over the top of the speeder? He _knew_ that he hadn't just been seeing things; he had felt the boy's strong, bright presence in the Force. And _that_ worried him. The boy had not been garbed like a Jedi, and yet, his strength in the Force was easily equal to that of a Jedi Master.

Then there were the… _unsettling_… disturbances in the Force that he'd been sensing over the past two days. Something was terribly wrong. And he sensed that this… _boy_… had something to do with it.

And if that were indeed the case, then this boy would have to be eliminated. Immediately.

But that was easier said than done. Ever since that first encounter, he hadn't seen or sensed the boy anywhere. He had a sneaking suspicion that the boy was taking up residence in the Jedi Temple, but as he had no real proof of that yet, there was still really nothing he could do. Plus, if this boy were indeed a non-Jedi staying at the Jedi temple, then it would be nearly impossible to get to him.

_Nearly_ impossible.

He pressed a hidden button on his desk. Soon, a hologram of his newest apprentice appeared. "Yes, Master?"

"There's been a slight change of plans, Tyranus. I need that droid army sooner than we anticipated."

Dooku sent his master a quizzical look. "How soon?"

"As soon as you can get them made."

Dooku was taken aback. "Why so soon, Master? The clone army won't be ready for years! Wouldn't it be better to-"

"I did not call you to ask your opinion, Apprentice," Sidious seethed darkly. "I need that droid army. _Now_."

Dooku swallowed nervously, then respectfully bowed his head in fearful submission. "Yes, Master."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Where are we going?" Toshiro asked curiously as he followed behind Yoda's hover chair.

"A training room," Yoda replied simply. Then, in a warm voice, he added, "Be able to practice more in there, you will."

Toshiro was surprised by Yoda's answer. Not only was he willing to let Toshiro (who was practically a complete stranger) learn their Jedi techniques, but he was also making a deliberate effort to help Toshiro improve this skill. Something like that would _never_ fly in Soul Society. _Wow,_ he thought as they approached a large door. _I guess… I guess these guys really do mean to help me._

Yoda pressed a flat button on the wall beside the door with one of his green fingers. It lit up and appeared to scan his finger, then the door opened. Apparently, this door was usually kept locked. As they stepped into the room, Toshiro instantly noticed that there were quite a few objects scattered throughout the room, each varying in size, shape, mass, and density. The wall to their left looked as if it had been made entirely out of one sheet of glass. There was a balcony about half way up on the other side of the wall that could apparently be reached by an elevator on the left side of the wall.

Yoda rotated his hover chair to face Toshiro. "Use anything in this room, you may," he said with a hand stretched welcomingly towards the room. "Sound, the chimes will, when lunch time, it is. Leave here at lunch, you must, but leave before then, you may. Lock automatically behind you when you leave, this door will."

"Thank you," Toshiro replied with an air of respect and gratitude. His heart began to beat with that feeling of excited determination that always accompanied his training sessions.

This was definitely going to be fun.

l***l

Yoda hovered out of the room, used the control panel next to the door on the outside of the room to start recording Toshiro's practice session, then headed straight towards the Archives. He had a feeling that Yaddle would still be going over that hologram of Toshiro's demonstration. That was her rather secret specialty: she was an expert at examining any technique to pieces, figuring out how it worked, and often times, even learning how to execute the ability herself. Practically everyone knew that she was good at taking bits of information about a particular ability that were scattered across many sources, piecing them together, and teaching herself the skill; that's how she'd learned the forbidden technique of Morichro, after all. But as Yoda was really the only Jedi who'd known her in her younger years, he was also the only one who'd ever been exposed to her ability-examining talent.

When he found her in her small office in the Archives, he discovered that his assumption had been correct. She acknowledged his presence with nothing more than a slight movement of her ear; the rest of her being was fixed on the hologram she was watching (no doubt for the twentieth time or so). He hovered over behind her, facing the hologram. "Unlocked the secret to his power yet, have you?" he asked, half-serious and half-joking.

"Almost." Her voice had been completely serious. She continued speaking as if she were taking mental notes aloud. "Completely ritualized, all of his techniques appear to be. Appears to make them more potent than our equivalents, that does, but have as much control over what exactly he's doing as we would, he does not. Also…" Her brow furrowed, as if this were the one thing that puzzled her more than anything. "Interacts much differently with this boy, the Force does. Seems… as if his own _personal_ supply of the Force he has, it does, one that is somehow separate from the Force itself. What he calls his 'reiatsu', that probably is. Used heavily for his 'zanpakuto release' technique, this separate supply is. What causes the drop in temperature around him, it is, also. Possible, it appears to be, to combine this separate supply with the Force itself. Seems it does that fairly easy to do that, it would be. Give him much greater direct control over his 'reiatsu', it would, too."

Yoda was quiet for a moment as his mind processed the information that Yaddle had just given him. "Done that, he already has," he reflected. "Eavesdropped on my last youngling class this morning, he did. Notice him I did not until heard him walk away, I did. When to check on him after my class, I went… levitating a rubber ball with remarkable skill and nimbleness, he was. When questioned him, I did, said he did that ever used telekinesis before, he had not."

For the first time, Yaddle tore her gaze away from the hologram to face Yoda. "Where now, is he?"

"In one of the Masters' Practice rooms."

Yaddle smiled lightly, then turned off the hologram and stood up. "In the one with the outside observation deck, he is, I assume?"

Yoda nodded, imitating her smile. "Of course."

Yaddle walked out of her office, with Yoda following then hovering beside her as soon as they got through the doorway. Before they had gone ten meters, however, their ears caught the sound of a familiar voice.

"Well now, where are the two of you off to in such a hurry, my old Master, Master Yoda?"

The two oldest Masters in the Order turned to see their fellow Council member, Yarael Poof, walking up behind them. Yaddle's smile broadened. "Perfect timing you have, my old Padawan," she complimented. "Come with us, why don't you?"

l***l

_Focus. Concentrate. Control._

His chest heaved as if he'd just run a marathon, but his skin was completely devoid of sweat. Man, this telekinesis stuff was _intense_! No wonder they started training Jedi so young! Had he not already spent countless hours training to become a captain, he would've run out of energy and drive a long time ago.

He hadn't felt this drained and challenged since he was training to achieve Bankai, which was a zanpakuto's second (and ten times more powerful) stage of release. Bankai was so difficult to achieve, in fact, that only the captains and three other Shinigami had been able to achieve it, and it was actually a requirement for becoming a captain (with the sole exception of Kenpachi). Only those who had gone through the process of achieving Bankai could understand how incredibly different it was from any other kind of training. The atmosphere was different, the components were different, the end goal was different – heck, they might as well have added a completely new definition to the word "training" to the dictionary!

As different and challenging as Bankai training had been, however, it was _nothing_ in comparison to this. This wasn't just some new, more difficult combat skill; this was an entirely new _class_ of skills, one that required its wielders to use techniques that were completely alien to Toshiro. However, he knew that if he could get a decent handle on this while he was here, he'd have a _huge_ advantage in combat once he returned to Soul Society.

At the moment, though, it was _seriously_ time for a break.

He undid the green sash that held Hyorinmaru to his back, plopped down next to the wall with the door, set Hyorinmaru on his lap, leaned his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes. Normally it was his body that needed the break; this time, it was his mind. He could understand now why meditation was such a common practice among these Jedi; it was an excellent way to relax one's mind after some hardcore training.

He found that clearing his mind became drastically easier with each time he did it. His breathing slowed a bit as he felt the peace surround him yet again. And, just as before, he felt his mind being carefully and gently pulled somewhere. Once again he followed, expecting to see those images of him and Momo spending time together in the future.

But he saw nothing.

His mind traveled along in a vast ocean of peace, completely devoid of any thoughts or images. It was very relaxing and rejuvenating. Just a few more minutes of this, and he'd be ready to go again.

All of a sudden, mixed in with that feeling of peace, he felt something… _dark_. Something _strong_, and… _dark_…

_Get __**out**__ of here!_

His eyes snapped open as he ripped himself from the meditation. A ripple of cold, almost fearful apprehension washed over him. Whatever – or _who_ever – that darkness was, he needed to avoid it. He didn't know how he knew this, but somehow, he just… did.

He shook his head and stood up, then placed Hyorinmaru back in its proper spot on his back, and continued training.

l***l

Sidious opened his eyes. He smiled wickedly. "So," he muttered, "you _are_ in the Jedi Temple." His smile disappeared as his next observation surfaced. "And you are being trained by the Jedi. Already, you are strong… _very_ strong…"

His smile returned. "I feel plenty of _anger_ and _hatred_ in that stubborn, courageous heart of yours. Yes… _that_ is good…"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Yoda, Yaddle, and Yarael stepped up to the glass wall of the training room. Yarael had been briefed on what the "hypnotic implants" in Toshiro's brain _really_ were on the way there. They accessed the observation deck from the outside; this particular training room was often used as a demonstration room, where Jedi Masters would demonstrate battle skills to on-looking younglings and Padawans.

Yarael stopped short as soon as he set eyes on Toshiro, who was apparently using the Force to lift and move various objects in the room. "Oh my _stars_!"

Yaddle sent him a half-confused, half-amused look. "Why so surprised, are you?"

Both Yarael and Yoda sent her a look that was pure confusion. "Why surprised, are you _not_?" Yoda retorted. Yarael's face was clearly asking the same question.

Yaddle's ears and eyebrows raised at the both of them. "After what showed us yesterday, he did," she said with a chuckle, "think I do not that be able to surprise me with _anything_, he will. Besides," she said as she turned her gaze to watch Toshiro, "told us, Master Tiin did, that an exceptionally strong mind, he has. Plus, a captain in Soul Society, he is, which means that accustomed to training and learning new skills, he probably is." She was quiet for a minute. "Think I do that more abilities than what he's shown us, he has. But a conservative fighting style, he uses, so use those abilities unless he absolutely needs to, he most likely will not. Unless…" She turned to Yoda. "Unless tells him, one of us does, that want to see these abilities, we do. And even then, have to force some of them out of him, we might."

Yoda returned her gaze, instantly recognizing the unspoken request in her eyes. He turned his gaze back to Toshiro and sighed. "Spar with him, I would," he said casually, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, "but too old an lazy I am to do it myself."

Yaddle stuck her tongue in her cheek. She knew that no amount of bantering or arguing were going to save her from that one. Without saying a word, she turned and walked towards the elevator, then went down.

Yarael had had enough experience with the two of them to realize that this little exchange must've been the result some sort of inside joke that would take longer to explain than he would be willing to listen to. So he stayed quiet.

l***l

Toshiro heard a door open behind him. He had felt Yoda, Yaddle, and one other person's reiatsu draw near as they approached the observation deck. He turned to see Yaddle stepping out of the elevator. She smiled at him, and for a brief second, he was reminded of Captain Unohana; she was the captain of the 4th squad, which was deemed the "relief" or "healing" squad. And although she was very kind and soft-spoken, she was also one of the three current captains (four if you counted the Captain-Commander) who had been a captain since the creation of the Gotei 13. She was also rumored to be the second strongest captain in all of Soul Society, although you wouldn't know it if you'd just met her on the street.

"Spar with you, may I?" Yaddle asked politely.

"Why?" He had to admit that he was a little surprised by the request.

"To exchange information." She stopped about three meters away from him. "Learn more about your battle techniques, I will, and learn more about our battle techniques, you will."

Toshiro opened his mouth slightly to object, then closed it when he realized that this would actually be a good idea. "Sure," he said as he reached for his sword.

"One condition."

Toshiro's hand was already wrapped around Hyorinmaru's hilt. "What?"

"If going to use any technique besides swordplay either of us are, inform the other of what we are going to do, we must. Only have to inform them the first time each technique is used, we do."

_That's a strange request,_ Toshiro thought. But then again, he was used to either fighting to the death (and therefore exchanging as little information as possible), or sparring with someone who used basically all the same techniques that he did. If they were just fighting to exchange information, then this actually made sense. "So… does that mean that I can use any technique that I used in the demonstration without having to tell you first?"

Yaddle nodded. "And use telekinesis I can, without warning you first."

"Fair enough." Toshiro brought Hyorinmaru out if its sheath and down by his side. He watched as Yaddle produced a small lightsaber (he had learned that that's what they were called during his talk with Yoda yesterday) and activated it, revealing an orange blade.

"Ready, are you?"

Toshiro grabbed Hyorinmaru with his free hand, so now both hands were in place. He nodded.

Yaddle lunged at him, and he blocked. After that, their blades were little more than a blur. The two weapons clashed again and again. _Holy __**crap**__, she's fast!_ Toshiro thought. She was _definitely_ fighting at captain level. And for some reason, Toshiro felt… _awkward_. All of his blocks and parries felt… _off_… somehow. They were working beautifully; they just _felt_… _wrong_…

Then, all of a sudden, it hit him: he wasn't used to fighting someone shorter than him.

He used Shunpo to get away from her for a second, then tried attacking her from a different angle. There was no way she'd have time to block, not with the position she was currently in and the speed and angle he was approaching her from.

She whipped around, and held out her free hand, as if she were signaling him to stop. As she did so, Toshiro felt a huge mass of reiatsu shove up against him, then hurl him backwards. He was barely able to plant his feet and slide to a stop in time to avoid hitting the glass wall. _What the… Was that Sho_{Thrust}_?_ His brow furrowed. _There wasn't any incantation or name called out, at least from what I could hear. I wonder…_ "Yaddle," he said as he regained his stance. "I'm going to use a technique that's very similar to the technique you just used. It's the lowest level Hado {Way of Destruction}, which is a branch of Kido, which is a type of noble magic that only Shinigami can use."

Yaddle hadn't moved from where she'd pushed Toshiro. She had looked somewhat surprised at first, but when Toshiro explained that they had a similar technique where he was from, her surprise vanished. She nodded, then deactivated her lightsaber, and braced herself.

Toshiro stretched his left hand out in front of him, his index finger pointed at Yaddle, and the rest of his fingers curled in a loose fist. This was the easiest of all Hado spells to perform. Consequently, it was also the weakest, but even weak spells could be made devastating if they were performed by a captain. And because he was a captain, he could easily perform lover-level spells like this without hardly any effort, and could probably do this one even if he was half-asleep.

_Hado No. 1: Sho!_

l***l

"Hado No. 1: Sho!"

Yaddle instantly felt the sudden, sharp movement of the Force as it responded to his words. She didn't have any time to try and negate it before she was thrown back, as if by a massive Force push. Rather than try to mimic Toshiro's stunt of planting his feet on the ground and sliding to a stop, she used her skill with the Force to part the attack down the middle, so-to-speak, and guide it around her. This attack, much like his zanpakuto release, she noticed, used his reiatsu.

l***l

Toshiro noticed that Yaddle hadn't been pushed as far as he'd intended. Apparently, she'd either negated, or redirected his attack somehow. He wasn't all that surprised.

"The lowest level Hado, you said that was," Yaddle said as she regained her stance. "How many levels, are there?"

"Ninety-nine. The higher the number, the stronger the spell, and the more difficult it is to perform."

"I see… A higher level Hado, could you perform?"

"Not without causing serious damage to this room." He thought for a moment. "Actually, I could probably do Byakurai {Pale/White Lightning} without causing any serious damage, but it's only a level four spell." And even then, he'd have to hold back a _lot_ in order to prevent his captain-level skill from making it much more devastating than it normally would be.

Yaddle nodded. "Do it."

Toshiro exhaled, then focused on reigning in his reiatsu in order to lessen the strength of the spell. "I highly recommend you dodge this," he said as he brought his hand out and pointed at Yaddle, just as he'd done before.

_Hado No. 4: Byakurai!_

l***l

"Hado No. 4: Byakurai!"

Many, many years ago, Yoda had taught Yaddle how to use the Force to "catch" Force lightning. They had practiced it so much in fact, that it had become a reflexive action for her. So, although she knew that this "Byakurai" wasn't _really_ Force lighting, it still looked enough like it to trigger that reflex.

The lightning was drawn to her hand, as it should be. The problem was, this Byakurai didn't just stay in the cavity of her hand like Force lightning did. Instead, it actually made contact with her fingers and palm, causing her hand to burn with sharp, electric pain. She gritted her teeth hard. Yeah, it hurt like a bantha, but she'd been through far worse pain than this before without shedding a single tear.

l***l

Toshiro's eyes shot wide open in dread and shock when he saw that Yaddle hadn't dodged it. "Are you okay?" he asked as he ran towards her.

The single, thick bolt of lightning was gone now. Toshiro expected to find at least a hole in her hand, if not her entire hand missing. When he reached her, however, he was surprised to find that her hand was still completely intact; she was slowly opening and closing it, and there appeared to be a slight burn in the center of her palm. She looked up and smiled reassuringly at him. "Fine, I am," she said as she shook out her hand. "Besides, warned me, you did."

_Darn strait, I warned you,_ Toshiro thought. Still… how had she been hit by that without it causing hardly any damage? "What the heck were you doing?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Similar to Force lightning, that was," she explained. "Know how to 'catch' Force lightning, I do. But, apparently, work as well with your Byakurai, that technique does not."

"It worked well enough," Toshiro half-muttered. "If you'd just stood there and not done anything, your hand would probably be gone."

"A 'branch' of Kido, you said Hado is?"

Toshiro nodded, caught a bit off guard by the sudden change of subjects. "Yeah."

"The other branches, what are?"

"There's two other main branches: Bakudo {Way of Binding}, and healing. Bakudo functions in basically the same way as Hado: all of the spells have a specific name, and are each given a number from one to ninety-nine based on strength and difficulty. Healing spells don't require names, numbers, or incantations."

Yaddle sent him a curious look. "Incantations?"

"Yeah. Before a Shinigami reaches a certain skill level with a particular Hado or Bakudo spell, they have to say an incantation to perform the spell. After one reaches a high enough skill level with that spell, they can perform it without saying the incantation, but saying the incantation always increases the potential power of the spell."

"Hmm… the difference between Hado and Bakudo spells, what is?"

"Well… The main difference between Hado and Bakudo is that Hado spells are designed to directly harm a target, while Bakudo spells are generally meant to halt or deter a target. Bakudo is a really broad category, actually. Most Bakudo spells are restraining or shielding spells, but there are a couple oddballs that are used for things like tracking and telepathic communication, for instance."

Yaddle mused on that for a moment. "Harmful, are the restraining spells?"

"No, most of them are physically harmless." He took a stab at Yaddle's next question. "Why? Did you want me to perform a couple of them?"

Yaddle nodded. "Yes. After you do, demonstrate a Force technique, I will."

"Alright, then." Hey, he could use the extra practice. He turned and walked until he was about five meters away from her. Then he turned back to face her. "This first one I'm going to do is the lowest level Bakudo. It'll lock your arms behind your back, and you'll probably fall over on your face. That's not really part of the spell; it just tends to happen a lot." Thank goodness he didn't really have to worry about reigning in his reiatsu this time.

_Bakudo No. 1: Sai_{Restrain}_!_

l***l

"Bakudo No. 1: Sai!"

Yaddle felt as if there were two little, invisible, insanely strong Force hands that latched onto her wrists, yanked her arms back, and crossed her hands behind her back. She would've fallen flat on her face, had Toshiro not warned her. Instead, she buckled to her knees, then slowly let her forehead down to rest on the floor. She took a couple deep breaths.

"Do you want me to undo it for you?"

"No," she replied simply. "Get out of this myself, I can. Just, a minute or so, give me…"

She took a couple more deep breaths as she reached out to the Force. She could feel that her hands were tied in some kind of "Force knot", so-to-speak. Carefully, she worked to "untie" the "knot". It only took her about ten to twenty seconds to free herself, which was a lot shorter than she had expected.

l***l

Toshiro watched as Yaddle stood up. It hadn't really surprised him to see her free herself from that weak Bakudo spell, even though she'd never experienced it before. She _was_ a captain-level fighter, was she not? "This last one is a level sixty-one spell," he informed her. "This is one of those spells that's a lot easier to demonstrate than it is to explain, so I'm just going to go ahead and do it." Yaddle nodded in acknowledgment.

_Bakudo No. 61: Rikujokoro_{Six Rods Prison of Light}_!_

l***l

"Bakudo No. 61: Rikujokoro!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, six flimsy-thin, wide rectangles of yellowish light appeared, and slammed into Yaddle's midsection, as if they were six flower petals gravitating towards the center of their flower. Although this was rather startling, it wasn't at all painful.

Still, Yaddle couldn't move.

She examined the rectangles. They were honestly completely unlike anything she had ever seen before. They appeared to be immensely dense masses of… _Force_… if that was even possible. She could tell that there was no way she'd be able to get out of this in any reasonable amount of time. "Undo this, could you?" she asked after a moment.

Toshiro nodded. Yaddle felt his reiatsu draw near her, then snap the six rectangles at once, causing them to shatter and disintegrate. It was as if he'd found and tapped the "on/off switch" of the spell.

"Thank you. Now, my turn, it is."

Toshiro nodded. An electronic beeping noise suddenly sounded from his outer cloak.

l***l

Toshiro glared at the phone in his haori as he reached in and pulled it out. _This better darn well not be Matsumoto,_ he thought.

His eyes snapped open as they caught the name on the outer display. It wasn't Rangiku. It wasn't Momo, either.

It was the Captain-Commander.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"I'm sorry," Toshiro apologized, "but I have to take this call." As much as he really hated being rude like this, he couldn't just ignore a call from his boss. That would cause all kinds of trouble.

"Yes, sir?" he said respectfully as he answered.

"Captain Hitsugaya," the old, gravelly, semi-slow-moving voice said. "I hope I'm not calling at a bad time."

"No, not at all," he lied. It was just a formality, really. The only times it would be okay to _not_ answer a call from the Captain-Commander would be if you were in the middle of a life-or-death battle, or if you were unconscious. Anything else, _anything_ else, could be put on hold.

"I wanted to give you an update on our situation. Normally I would just tell your Vice-captain to relay the information to you, but I'm afraid that would take too long this time."

"What is it?"

"As you know, Aizen plans to destroy Karakura Town in order to create a King's Key. Because of this, I have asked Kisuke Urahara to fortify Karakura Town so captain-level Shinigami can fight there. In order to do that, he has used Tenkaikezzu. I had the Research Institute create an exact replica of Karakura Town in a remote area of Rukongai, which is why they haven't been working on finding a way to re-open the gate to the dimension you're in. As soon as the replica is completed and Urahara's Tenkaikezzu operational, we will be able to replace the real Karakura Town with the replica, and place the real Karakura Town in Rukongai, where it will be safe for the time being."

"I see." He thought for a moment. "Do you really think Aizen will fall for it?"

"I highly doubt Aizen will know that Karakura Town has been replaced with a fake until he gets there. Once he arrives, he'll most likely figure it out. But we can deal with that when it happens. Now, there was one other reason why I called you directly, Captain Hitsugaya."

"Yes, sir?"

"I understand that you are keeping in contact with your Vice-captain. She is a strong fighter, and we could use her strength in the battle against Aizen once he arrives in the Real World. However, if you'd rather her stay in Soul Society so you can continue to keep in contact with her, I will honor your request."

This one took some serious, grown-up thinking on his part (not like he wasn't already used to thinking like an adult). Would Rangiku's presence at the battle _really_ make that much of a difference? Could he _really_ afford to put her in a position where he couldn't contact her at a moment's notice? She may be lazy and annoying as all get out, but she was superb at watching his back, and he knew that if any kind of emergency came up and he needed any kind of assistance from Soul Society, Rangiku would go through Hueco Mundo and back to make sure he got whatever he needed. Heck, the first time they'd met, she had been haranguing a store clerk for "being rude" to him by setting his change on the counter instead of in his hand. To this day, she still stuck up for him like that. That's probably the only reason he didn't have her fired.

"Yes," he said finally. "I would rather Matsumoto remain in Soul Society. Also…" An image of Momo flashed through his mind. His voice became a tad bit softer. "Could you please make sure that Vice-captain Hinamori remains in Soul Society, as well? I spoke with her earlier this morning, and… she's in no condition to fight."

"Hm. Very well. I will send out orders to both of them to remain in Soul Society."

"Thank you. Is there anything else, sir?"

"No, that's all. I'll have your Vice-captain give you regular updates on the proceedings from here on out."

"Very well."

"Captain Hitsugaya." It was the "it's time to end the conversation" address.

"By your leave."

Click.

"A King's Key, what is?"

Toshiro's gaze snapped up to see Yaddle staring at him curiously. "Oh, um, well…" He organized his thoughts for a moment, then suddenly shot an astonished look at her. "You _heard_ that?"

Yaddle smiled and pointed to one of her long ears. "For show, these things are not."

"Ah, of course," he said a bit awkwardly. He closed his cell phone and stuck it back into his haori. "Well, in Soul Society, there's a royal family and a king, but they don't do any of the governing. They live in a separate realm within Soul Society, and the only way to reach that realm is with a King's Key. There's only one King's Key in existence right now, and its location isn't written or otherwise recorded in any documents. Rather, its location is told to each generation of Captain-Commanders orally. So, right now, our current Captain-Commander (the person who just called me) is the only one in the Gotei 13 who knows where it is."

"And plans to create a King's Key for himself, Aizen does?"

Toshiro nodded. "To do that, he has to completely destroy and entire town in the Real World, which is the main reason why the Gotei 13 is getting involved. It's also why Aizen's creating an army of 'Shinigami-ified' Hollows, so he can use them to fight against the Gotei 13. He most likely plans to assassinate Soul Society's king, but right now, the Gotei 13's main concern is to make sure that Karakura Town (the town he has to destroy in order to make a King's Key) is safe."

"Hmm… Tenkaikezzu, what is?"

"Um… have I told you what a Senkaimon is?" She shook her head. "Senkaimons are gates that Soul Society uses to travel back and forth between Soul Society and the Real World. Tenkaikezzu is basically an abnormally large Senkaimon, created by four pillars set to surround an area of one square spirit-mile. That area acts as a giant Senkaimon, and allows anything and everything inside of it to be swapped with something in Soul Society."

"Hmm," she muttered, nodding in understanding. Then, after a brief silence, she asked, "Ready to continue, are you?"

He nodded. "Yes."

l***l

"Going to use a technique called Malacia, I am," she explained. "Cause you to become very dizzy and nauseous, it will, but inflict any permanent damage, it will not." She wasn't the greatest at this technique (which she had learned from her former Padawan, Oppo Rancisis), but she knew it well enough to use it for a few seconds, which was perfect for a sparring situation like this.

l***l

_Hmm, this sounds interesting,_ Toshiro thought as he braced himself for this Malacia technique. _Make me dizzy and nauseous… is she going to spin me around really fast, or somethi-_

Suddenly, he became very, _very_ aware of all the fluids moving around inside his body. His blood pulsing through his veins, the bile and mostly-digested food sloshing around in his stomach and traveling through his intestines, air as it flowed into and out of his lungs. His brain was overloaded with the conscious recognition of each tiny muscle flex and relaxation. He lost all sense of balance, and collapsed limply to the floor, as the magnified movement of his bodily fluids brought on the nausea Yaddle had warned him about.

Then, the sensation was gone.

He lay there for a moment or so, taking deep breaths to help him recover from whatever-the-heck-that-was. He tensed slightly as he felt a three-fingered hand on his shoulder. "Alright, are you?" Yaddle asked as he slowly came to his knees.

Toshiro discreetly squirmed away from her touch. "You warned me," he muttered in a rare moment of dry humor.

Yaddle's smile broadened a bit, though she was obviously a little worried about him recoiling. "Have any way to block a technique like that, do you?" she asked curiously as he stood up, silently refusing her offered hand.

"Heck no," he replied, finally feeling completely back to normal. "That was… _insane_. There's no technique that I know of that can block something internal like that."

"Hmm…"

Musical chimes sounded.

"Feel well enough to eat lunch with Yoda and I, do you?" Yaddle asked.

"Yeah," Toshiro replied, the beginnings of post-training hunger starting to make their appearance. "Lunch sounds _great_ right now."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Thank you for lunch, Rangiku-san," Momo said as she sipped the remaining water in her cup.

"Ah, don't mention it," Rangiku replied with a smile. "Hey, I've been wondering… what exactly did you and my Captain talk about while he and I were in Karakura Town? Was it just about Aizen, or…?"

"Oh, well…" Momo thought for a moment, staring at the bottom of the empty cup in her hands. "No, it wasn't all about… Aizen…" She swallowed hard after saying that name. The pain surrounding _him_ wasn't going away anytime soon. "At first, I just wanted to apologize to Hitsugaya-kun, for not believing him, and for pointing my sword at him…" She smiled. "He was really nice about it. He said that he didn't really care about that anymore, and then he told me to go get some rest." She giggled. "He even said that I looked like a kid, and that if I didn't sleep for ten years strait, I'd never catch up to you, Rangiku-san!"

Rangiku's eyes snapped open, and the water she'd been in the process of drinking sprayed out of her mouth and all over Momo. "_Catch up_ to me?" she asked in astonishment. "In what way?"

Momo wiped the water off her face with a relatively dry spot on her sleeve. "Well, your breasts are a lot bigger than mine-"

Rangiku gasped audibly, then clamped her free hand over her mouth, her blue eyes wide open in utter shock. "_My_ Captain teased you about your _boobs_?"

Momo was obviously startled and a little worried at Rangiku's reaction. "Y-yeah… why? What's wrong with that?"

"What's _wrong_ with it? Do you even _know_ my Captain?"

"U-um…"

"Hinamori," Rangiku said, her voice suddenly serious, "my Captain _hates_ it when I talk about my breasts. He _hates_ it! You seriously expect me to not be concerned when I hear that he's been teasing you about your _boobs_? And not only that, but he compared them to _mine_?" She gasped again, as if a huge realization just smacked her up-side the head. "No… No, he couldn't…" She stared wide-eyed at Momo for a moment. Then, without warning, she burst into tears.

"R-Rangiku-san!" Momo said, her voice a mixture of worry and confusion. "What's wrong?"

"I'M A FAILURE AS A VICE-CAPTAIN!"

"Huh? N-no you're not! What makes you think that?"

"All these years, and I didn't even _notice_! It was so _obvious_!"

"What was?"

Rangiku froze for a second, as if she just now realized that Momo had been sitting there the whole time. "Oh, nothing," she said through a smile as she waved her hand dismissively, acting as if the whole bursting-into-tears thing was just an act. "Now, I think it's about time that you head off to bed, catch up on that beauty sleep, yes?"

Just then, a black butterfly with a few semi-contouring red lines on its wings flew between their faces, and hovered. "A hell-butterfly?" Rangiku instinctively held out her finger, and the butterfly landed on it.

"Orders from the Captain-Commander," she said aloud as the message was transmitted to her through the feet of the butterfly. "Tenth squad Vice-captain, Rangiku Matsumoto, and fifth squad Vice-captain, Momo Hinamori, are to remain in Soul Society until further notice." The butterfly fluttered away. Rangiku watched it for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed a bit. _Remain in Soul Society? Hm… I wonder if the Captain had anything to do with this…_

"Remain in Soul Society…" Momo muttered softly. "Rangiku-san, what's going on? Why were we ordered to remain here? Is there something going on in the Real World, or-"

"Aizen plans to destroy Karakura Town to create a King's Key," Rangiku interrupted, her voice unusually flat and serious. "The Captain-Commander is organizing a mini-army of captains and vice-captains to help fend him off for awhile. It looks like… neither of us are going to be in that army."

Momo's eyes widened for a second, then went back to normal, and lowered to stare at her hands. "I see…"

"Well, it's time for you to go back to resting," Rangiku said as her usual cheerfulness returned. She stood up (pulling Momo up with her), and proceeded to escort her fellow Vice-captain back to her room. "Sleep well!" she called as Momo stepped into her room. "And if you need anything, you'd better call me, 'kay?"

Momo nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Thank you, Rangiku-san."

"You're very welcome. Sleep well!" She closed the sliding door, then turned and headed back to the tenth squad building. _Ugh!_ she thought, disgusted with herself. _What is _wrong_ with me? How could I not see that he _likes_ her? It's so obvious! She's like the only person he _ever_ smiles around; he's insanely over-protective of her; he lets her get away with calling him "Hitsugaya-kun" instead of "Captain Hitsugaya"; he flippin' _let_ her _hug_ him; and now, I hear he's been teasing her about her _boobs_, a.k.a. _flirting_ with her? I knew that they were close like siblings, but sheesh!_ She sighed heavily. "I need some sake," she said lazily as she changed her course to take her to the nearest bar.

l***l

Toshiro stepped out of the elevator and onto the observation deck. He recognized the long-necked kind-of-humanoid-ish-looking-thing standing next to Yoda as one of the members of the Jedi High Council. It was almost funny to see such a tall person standing next to the short Yoda.

"I don't believe I've introduced myself to you yet, Toshiro," he said politely, his voice friendly but not overly warm. "My name is Yarael Poof. I was the one who first noticed the… 'hypnotic implants' in your brain."

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd quit calling it that," Toshiro said, his tone a little sharper than he'd intended. "That's not what it is."

Yarael nodded. "Yes, I realize that," he said, his tone slightly apologetic. "Master Yoda and Master Yaddle told me what they are. Is there something else you'd rather we call… it?"

"Complete Hypnosis," Toshiro replied flatly. "That's what it's called."

"Alright then," Yarael said as they began making their way to the dining hall. "I must say, I am very surprised with how quickly you've learned telekinesis. If this talent of yours extends to other areas of Force usage as well, then it should be fairly easy for us to teach you how to control your mind."

"What about overriding the hypnosis?" Toshiro asked, cutting right to the point as usual.

"That depends," Yarael replied. "I'll have to prod around in your mind a bit to see what exactly they are from our standpoint, and ultimately, whether or not we'll be able to help you. From what I've gathered so far, we should be able to teach you how to override them for a short period of time. But I'm afraid I can't make any guarantees at the moment."

"That's fine," Toshiro said, not very excited about the idea of someone _prodding around_ in his mind.

"Master Yoda tells me that there's no direct equivalent for telekinesis in Soul Society."

"There isn't. Why?"

"I was just curious as to how you managed to learn a skill that usually takes Jedi _years_ to learn in such a short period of time?" His voice portrayed genuine awe and curiosity.

Toshiro shrugged. "It's a fairly simple concept," he replied casually. "I'm sure if I explained the basics of Kido to you, you'd probably learn it really quick too."

l***l

The three Jedi exchanged a quick glance of surprise, awe, and amusement. Telekinesis had never been described as a "simple concept" by anyone any of them had met before, but when Toshiro had offered a vice-versa scenario, suddenly it made more sense.

"How soon can we start the… mind training?" Toshiro asked.

"I know Master Yoda has a younglings class after lunch," Yarael said, "but I'm available. Master Yaddle, do you have anything urgent to do in the Archives today, or do you think you could spare a few hours?" _I can tell Toshiro's going to need someone there that he trusts at least to some level,_ he added telepathically, _and he seems to trust you and Master Yoda more than the rest of us._

"Spare a few hours and _then_ some, I can," Yaddle replied, giving her former Padawan a slight nod so he knew she'd gotten the telepathic message.

"Why so eager to start this training, are you?" Yoda asked curiously as they passed through the doors of the dining hall.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be here," Toshiro replied flatly. "As soon as the Shinigami Research Institute figures out how to get the portal opened again, I'm going to be called back."

"Hmm… Yarael," Yoda said, "think you that eat with us and brief Toshiro on what you plan to teach him, you could? That way, when over, lunch is, go straight to the training, you can."

Yarael nodded. "Certainly."

l***l

The hologram in front of the Chancellor flickered off. His mouth cracked into a wicked grin. It had only been half a day, and already his apprentice had almost enough droids at his disposal to launch a half-way decent attack on the Jedi Temple.

Did he expect the attack to be successful? Of course not.

Would it serve his purposes beautifully? Absolutely.

l***l

Toshiro sat cross-legged on the floor of a cozy, but not-too-small room. Yarael was sitting facing him a few yards away, and Yaddle was sitting to Toshiro's right, equidistant from Yarael and Toshiro. Yarael had explained to Toshiro that this training would involve three basic steps: first, Toshiro would have to _let_ Yarael feel around in his mind, so he could get a better idea of how the hypnosis could be overridden; second, Toshiro would be taught how to "control his mind", which was a necessary prerequisite skill to overriding the hypnosis; and third, Toshiro would be taught how to override the hypnosis via _allowing_ Yarael to bring him into progressively deeper states of hypnosis, while Toshiro would try to bring himself out of the hypnosis.

Toshiro was glad he'd been briefed on all this over lunch. It was going to be difficult for him to trust these people to the level they were asking of him. He tried to keep that drowning dream at the forefront of his mind; whenever he thought of it, the idea of trusting these people became slightly easier to deal with.

"Go ahead and clear your mind, Toshiro," Yarael said, his voice completely _normal_, i.e. not all smooth and soothing like Toshiro was expecting. That was really nice; Aizen had one of those deceptively trustable voices.

"Meditate with you, I will," Yaddle said, and Toshiro nodded in reply. He closed his eyes, and cleared his mind. Shortly after he began meditating, he began to feel Yaddle's reiatsu seep into the room as well, brushing against his lightly, reassuringly. Her reiatsu felt… _light_; he was briefly reminded of the dark reiatsu he'd felt the last time he'd meditated.

"I am going to start feeling around in your mind, Toshiro," Yarael's casual voice said through the field of peace that surrounded Toshiro. "It is going to be very uncomfortable for you, and your mind is going to want to reject me. Because of this, I must remind you to make a conscious effort to _let_ me in. I promise I will not harm you in any way; I am very skilled at this sort of thing, and can assure you that I will not have any 'accidents'."

Toshiro took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth.

He felt Yarael's reiatsu reach out to him, and lightly touch his mind, as if he were prepping Toshiro for the actual "entry". Even at this light touch, Toshiro felt himself recoil sharply, the same way he would've snapped his hand back if he'd touched something too hot.

_Crap._

He felt Yaddle's reiatsu reach out to him in a calming manner, similar to the way a mother might calm her small child after he'd been startled by a small, harmless bird. Toshiro took a couple deep breaths, trying to relax. _I have to let him in,_ he thought, desperately trying to convince himself that Yarael could be trusted.

This pattern was repeated for the next hour or so: Yarael would barely touch Toshiro's mind, and Toshiro's mind would reflexively snap back, no matter how much Toshiro tried to keep it steady and open. Toshiro was growing more and more frustrated, which was making it increasingly more difficult to meditate. Part of him wished that Yarael would just force his way in and get it over with.

"That could easily cause permanent damage," Yarael said, having apparently heard Toshiro's thoughts. "I wouldn't want to risk it. I do understand why you are in a bit of a hurry, but things like this simply cannot be rushed without dire consequences."

Toshiro sighed. He cleared his mind again, ready for another round.

Then, it came. Like a tidal wave sweeping over, under, around, and through him.

_Attack… There's an attack…_

He saw split-second flashes of marching droids at odd angles, Jedi fighting them, the scenery surrounding the Jedi Temple.

_**You're under attack!**_

His eyes snapped open. "We're under attack," he said quickly as he jumped up and fled the room. Somehow, a part of him knew that Yaddle and Yarael would believe him.

His mind shifted to battle mode. Gradually, he could hear the mechanical footsteps of the droids as they approached the temple. The Jedi around him began to catch on that something wasn't right. Soon, Toshiro was simply one of the many warriors charging to the temple's defense.

l***l

"Sir! There's an attack on the Jedi Temple!"

The Supreme Chancellor donned a shocked expression. "Impossible!" he exclaimed.

"We have live holocams recording the whole thing," the messenger reported.

"Thank you," Palpatine said, feigning astonishment. He tapped the appropriate buttons, and a live stream appeared in front of him.

The Sith Lord inside of him was cackling. _Come on out, little boy,_ he thought darkly.

_Let's see what you can do._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Master Windu was at the forefront of the battle. _What in the Force is going on?_ he thought as he deflected a steady stream of blaster fire.

Master Yoda soon joined him, having left his youngling class in the temporary care of nearby Knight. They exchanged a split-second glance. They were both thinking the same thing: there may be a considerable amount of droids, but practically everyone in the entire galaxy knew that there was no _way_ an all-out attack on the Jedi Temple, especially with droids like these, would be anywhere _close_ to successful.

Yoda's eyes snapped open as a familiar presence caught his attention. He glanced up, aiming his sight directly at the presence he'd felt. A ping of pain and worried confusion echoed in his heart. Then he snapped his mind back to the battle, holding his emotions on reserve for later.

Dooku.

His emotions were locked away for the moment, but his mind was still on rapid-fire. Dooku _especially_ would know how unsuccessful an attack like this would be.

Which meant that there was some other motive. Some other reason for this-

"EVERYONE _**MOVE**_!"

l***l

Back in Soul Society, everyone would've _known_ to stay out of a captain's way. _Especially_ if that Captain was _him_. They would've felt his cold reiatsu surge, and would've scattered like a bunch of frightened field mice.

But, since the vast majority of these nitwits hadn't a _clue_ what a captain was capable of, he'd had to shout out a warning.

Toshiro was high in the air, about a hundred meters or so, so he could get a better view of all the droids. They were all lumped together, and hardly any Jedi had gotten very far into the mix.

Which was going to make this whole battle child's-play for him. (Literally.)

Hyorinmaru was already firmly in his grasp, unsheathed and ready for action. The battle would be over in roughly thirty seconds. Give-or-take.

_Soten ni zase…_

l***l

Storm clouds blackened the Coruscant sky. The air became much too cold for this time of year. Mace and Yoda managed to glance up at Toshiro as they shot backwards, responding to a combination of Toshiro's warning and their own razor-sharp intuitions. They took no more than a split-second to gawk at him. The black clouds that had appeared out of nowhere were circling him in the sky, giving him the ominous appearance of an irate and almighty deity.

l***l

"HYORINMARU!"

Dooku gaped at the white-haired boy in stupefied shock and horror. Who _was_ this? First of all, he was _hovering_ a _hundred meters_ in the air; second, the atmosphere of the entire planet seemed to be under his command –

And _now_, there was a huge, serpentine, _ice-creature_ circling him in the sky.

l***l

The Chancellor didn't need to fake his aghast expression. And actually, he probably would've been better off hiding it.

"What is it, Sir?"

Oops. He'd forgotten that his driver hadn't seen this boy, and therefore, that this messenger might not be able to see him either.

He blinked and winced, pretending to have something in his eye. "Oh, blast!" he said irritably. "Could you tell me what's happening, while I try to clear my eyes?" he said to the messenger, his voice as polite and innocent as possible.

"Of course." The messenger stepped up to the screen, and described what he saw to the Chancellor.

He saw the droids. And the Jedi. And the storm clouds.

He _didn't_ see the boy. _Or_ the ice-creature.

Hm. Interesting.

l***l

Just as he'd done in the demonstration (and about a million times before then), Toshiro swung his blade at the droids, and the ice dragon followed his command. It cascaded downwards, crushing them like a colossal half-frozen waterfall. The water froze solid before it had a chance to run off into civilian streets, thank goodness. He wished he had more control over that. He may have been able to achieve Bankai and the rank of Captain, but his power was still a bit underdeveloped (mostly because of his age), which made it hard to control sometimes. It'd be at _least_ a few more years before his power would fully mature.

But oh well. Not like he couldn't still kick serious butt in the meantime.

A quick movement caught his eye. He looked to see some middle-aged-looking guy hop into a flying vehicle. Toshiro's muscles tensed slightly.

So. _This_ was the guy who'd launched the attack, eh?

It was normal for him to get hunches like that back in Soul Society. And he wasn't by _any_ means the only one who got them. Probably the _youngest_ one, but definitely not the _only_ one.

He would've bolted after the guy, but the ship took off and breached the atmosphere in five seconds flat.

Hyorinmaru returned to normal, and the sky cleared. Toshiro dropped to the ground and placed his zanpakuto over his back. The other major drawback to his ability was that the ice didn't just magically disappear on its own (unless it was attached to a living thing that had been killed). Someone had to actually clean it up. In Soul Society, Toshiro had his squad to do all of that menial stuff. But here… well, it looked like he was going to have to clean it up on his own.

He stepped up to the wall of ice, then placed his hand on it, prepping to do a Hado {Way of Destruction} to clear up the bulk of it.

_**STOP**__**.**_

Toshiro blinked. Whoa. What was _that_?

_**Don't use Kido.**_

That eerie, strong darkness he'd felt during meditation was brought to his recollection. Suddenly, he _knew_ he was being watched. Observed. By someone very, _very_ bad.

Without thinking, he bolted into the Jedi Temple. He didn't dare use Shunpo. The less this guy (or girl) knew about him and his abilities, the better.

At least, that's the feeling he got.

"Toshiro."

He almost jumped at the heavy, intimidating, slightly angry voice coming up from behind him. He'd only heard it a few times before, but it was one of those unforgettably distinct voices, so he knew who it was even before he turned around. "Yeah?"

l***l

Mace was as close to furious as a Jedi Master and High Council Member was allowed to get. "Do you have _any_ idea what you've done?"

He caught a blip of Toshiro's defiant responding thoughts and a cold, piercing glare before his own name was spoken by an all-too familiar voice.

l***l

Toshiro was about to say, "Yeah, I _helped you guys out_," but was cut off before he had the chance.

"Master Windu."

It was Yoda's voice, and he did _not_ sound happy.

Master Windu turned around, revealing Yoda standing behind him. He sent Master Windu a sharp, disapproving look. "More than _twice_ your age, he is," he said sternly. "Any right to speak to him like a youngling, you have _not_."

Toshiro _might_ have grinned, had he not been completely stunned at Yoda's reprimand. One thing was for certain: Yoda had just won some instant trust points by doing that.

Yoda turned to Toshiro, and his face softened. "Appreciate your wanting to help us, I do. But what you did, get us into trouble, it probably will. A difficult time we will have, explaining who you are and what happened, to the public, especially if see you, they cannot. So please, if going to help us in the future you are, do what you can to not be so reckless."

_Reckless_? Wow, _that_ was a new one. He'd _never_ been called "reckless" before.

Still, he understood completely where Yoda was coming from. In the Real World, whenever people would see the byproducts of a Shinigami fight (since most of them couldn't see the actual people fighting), they'd get their memories wiped (via special little machines that virtually every Shinigami carried with them when they went to the Real World) so they wouldn't remember the incident. It dawned on him that what he just did would be like fighting in the Real World, and then not wiping anyone's memory afterwards.

Whoops.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't realize it'd cause so much trouble for you guys. I'll tone it down from here on out."

"Thank you," Yoda replied. "Rest now, you probably should," he added as his hover chair, well, _hovered_ around the corner.

Toshiro knew what he meant. "Yeah. We haven't really been getting anywhere, anyways," he admitted.

Yoda looked concerned as he plopped onto his hover chair. "Oh?"

Toshiro nodded slightly. He really didn't want to talk about the mind-training right now. He didn't want to talk about the dark person he kept _feeling_, either. He needed to think about it first. Sort it out on his own.

Which he had a stubborn habit of doing for pretty much _everything_ that bothered him.

"I'll see you at dinner," Toshiro said as he turned and walked away.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Toshiro didn't really feel like going to his room, but he did want to be alone for awhile. He figured that there must be _somewhere_ in this colossal building where he could just sit and not be bothered.

He wandered around for about fifteen minutes until he finally stumbled upon what looked like the perfect place: an extremely large room, several stories high, filled with greenery, pottery, stone pathways, and probably around a thousand fountains. Many of the pathways appeared to lead to more private areas, and Toshiro could sense a few Jedi quietly meditating in various places throughout the room.

This would do.

He followed one of the side-pathways until he came to one of those "private areas". There was a fountain gently pouring into a small pond (which was about three meters in diameter), surrounded by greenery and beautiful flowers that Toshiro had never seen before. A third of the fountain was surrounded by a stone wall about two meters tall, as if to serve as a backrest for someone who preferred to sit with their feet submerged in the pond.

Which actually sounded like a _great_ idea right about now.

Toshiro had seen a few Jedi running their hands through the waters of the pools they were sitting by, and one had even been quietly swimming in one of the larger ponds, so he figured that putting his feet in this pond would be perfectly fine. He sat on the pond's edge as he undid his sandals and took off his socks, then rolled up the legs of his uniform to his knees, and slipped his feet into the pond. The water was cool on his tired feet, which added to the already soothing affect of the room.

He leaned back against the wall and gazed absently into the rippling water as he thought about his current situation. There were two main things that were bugging him at the moment: one was his apparent inability to let Yarael into his mind, and the other was this dark reiatsu he kept feeling. As far as Toshiro was concerned, the whole mind-training thing was basically optional at this point. Yeah, it would be extremely nice and helpful if he could override Aizen's Complete Hypnosis, but it was by no means an absolute necessity.

The dark reiatsu, on the other hand, was an entirely different story.

This place was just getting weirder and creepier the longer Toshiro stayed here. He'd had visions of the future just by sleeping and meditating, and now, he could somehow _feel_ that he was in danger, and that a specific someone was targeting him. Then there were those warnings that came as strong thoughts to his mind. He didn't feel like these thoughts were coming from a specific person, like when Yarael reached his presence out to Toshiro during the mind-training. Rather, it felt like these warnings were coming from the same place that the visions had come from.

Which was… where, exactly?

Was it this "Force" that was sending him all of these messages? Was all this _normal_ for people with high spirit-power? If it was, did that mean that _every_ Shinigami who came here would experience the same thing?

"Probably."

Had the vibes in the room not been so tranquil, Toshiro would've jumped. It was a voice he didn't recognize, but when he turned, he noticed that the face matched one of the Council Members'. He had rust-colored skin, and two horns that pointed downwards sprouting from either side of his skull. "Uh… who are you?" Toshiro asked.

"Saesee Tiin," he replied flatly. He walked up to the water's edge and sat about a meter and a half away from Toshiro. "On top of being a Jedi Master, I am also a naturally born telepath, which means that I can pick up on others' thoughts without necessarily meaning to. And since your mind is so strong and is also uncontrolled, well, let's just say that, for me at least, trying to meditate anywhere in your general vicinity is like trying to listen to relaxing music when someone is shouting in your ear."

"Oh… Sorry…"

"No need to apologize. It's not your fault." There was a short pause. "I'm normally not one for talking, but I picked up on some things from you that need to be discussed. First and foremost is this dark presence you've apparently been feeling." He sent Toshiro a strong look, as if to confirm that Toshiro had, in fact, felt this "dark presence".

Toshiro nodded. He actually really appreciated how this guy got straight to the point. "Yeah. I've felt it a couple times now. The first time was this morning, about an hour or so before lunch. The second time was about a half-hour ago, during the battle. I was going to clean up the ice from my zanpakuto, but I… heard this voice inside my head, telling me to stop. That's when I felt the dark reiatsu again."

"You feel that this person is targeting you."

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah. It's weird, all of this… _feeling_ stuff. I'm not used to it."

Another pause. "I recommend you talk to Master Yoda about that. He's arguably the best teacher in the Order, especially when it comes to those kinds of things."

Toshiro was only slightly surprised by this. "Really?"

He nodded. "He has more than seven hundred years of experience training Jedi."

Toshiro's eyes popped wide open. "_Seven hundred years_?" he asked in disbelief. "What the… how old _is_ he?"

"Over eight hundred years, I forget exactly. Him and Master Yaddle are the oldest members of the Order, as far as I know; she's four hundred seventy… eight, I think."

"Holy crap…" Toshiro breathed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I had no _idea_ they were that old…"

"Toshiro."

He looked up. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to tell the rest of the Council about this dark presence you've been feeling. It may be connected to another serious issue we're dealing with."

Toshiro nodded. "Okay."

"And if this dark presence is what I think it is," he continued as he stood up, "and if he or she really is targeting you, then learning to control your mind should be at the _top_ of your priority list." He turned and walked away without another word.

Toshiro didn't bother to call after him. Instead, he began staring at his feet in the water. Controlling his mind should be at the _top_ of his priority list, eh?

It wasn't very long before the chimes for dinner sounded. Toshiro pulled his feet out of the water and dried them off with the bottom edge of his pants, then put his socks and sandals back on, and followed the mob of Jedi to the dining hall.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Toshiro took his tray of food to Yoda and Yaddle's usual table, where they were already seated. He had a newfound respect for them, now that he knew just how old they were. "Were you guys able to get things squared away with the public?" he asked as he sat.

Yoda nodded. "Yes, barely. Give them any complete answers, we could not, but at least somewhat satisfied, they are. All that really matters at this point, that is."

"That's good," Toshiro replied as he took a bite of his food.

"Meant to ask you this earlier, I did," Yoda continued, "but your talk with your Vice-captain friend, how go, did it?"

The recollection stung Toshiro, until he remembered that he'd sent Rangiku to comfort her. He shrugged. "It was fine. I told her what happened, and she got really upset, but I called Matsumoto right afterwards and told her to go make sure Hinamori would be okay, so I'm pretty sure she'll be fine."

Yaddle sent him a puzzled look. "Your Vice-captain, Matsumoto is?"

He nodded, his mouth full.

"Sent her to comfort your friend, you did?"

He swallowed. "Yeah. Why?"

Yaddle's face was genuinely concerned. "Why comfort her yourself, did you not?"

Toshiro slowly finished chewing the bite he'd just taken and swallowed. "I'm not very good at comforting people," he admitted. "Besides, Matsumoto can relate to Hinamori a lot better than I could. Ichimaru was the first person she'd ever met; he found her faint from hunger and saved her life when they were just kids."

"The man you threatened to kill, that was, if made your friend bleed, he did?" Yoda asked.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah. Matsumoto's dealing with their betrayal a lot better than Hinamori is." Toshiro took another bite, desperately wanting to change the subject. His recent conversation with Saesee Tiin provided the perfect means to do that. "There's something I think I should tell you guys," he said between bites. "I was thinking about it earlier in that big greenhouse room with all those fountains after the battle. Saesee Tiin overhead my thoughts, and said that it may be connected to another serious issue you guys are already dealing with, and since he plans on telling the rest of the High Council about it anyways, I think it would be best for me to tell you about it now."

He spent the next few minutes describing the dark reiatsu he'd been feeling in intricate detail. The two Jedi Masters were obviously stunned. "Watching you during the battle, you said this dark person was?" Yoda confirmed.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah. It was… almost like the entire purpose of the battle… was just to observe me."

Yoda sat still for a moment, as if deep in thought. Yaddle noticed this, and locked her gaze on him, patiently awaiting his next words. Yoda closed his eyes, sighed, and began eating again. "Dooku, it might be."

Yaddle was obviously surprised. "_Dooku_?"

Yoda nodded. "Saw him during the battle, I did. Obviously in command of the droids, he was." He paused to take a small bite. When he spoke again, his voice was low and sad. "The Dark Side, I sensed in him."

"Was that that middle-aged guy who got away in that flying vehicle?" Toshiro asked.

Yoda nodded. "My pupil, he was. Left the Order last year, he did."

Toshiro was quiet for a moment, part of him sympathizing with Yoda, and part of him trying to figure out if it was, in fact, this Dooku person who'd been observing him. "I don't think it was him," he said at length. "Dooku was gone by the time I attempted to use Kido to clean up the ice; I didn't feel the dark reiatsu until then, and something… _urged_ me, to go inside this building. It was… like a voice, inside my head, but, it was… _more forceful_, than just a voice."

"A warning from the Force, it was," Yaddle said, as if it had been as trivial as the time of day. "Come in many ways, they do, depending on the person."

"I see," Toshiro said, grateful for the explanation.

The table was quiet for a moment. "When resume your training, will you?" Yoda asked.

Toshiro thought for a moment. "I don't know. It seems pretty futile, to be honest. I can't seem to let Yarael into my mind."

"Teach you to control your mind, we can, without overriding the hypnosis," Yaddle offered. "Have to let anyone into your mind that way, you will not."

Toshiro looked at her in slight surprise. "Really?" She and Yoda both nodded. Toshiro breathed an inward sigh of relief. "I see… if you can really do that, then I'd like to start the training again tomorrow. I have to send my report to Soul Society tonight, which is probably going to take me awhile. Otherwise, I'd start up sooner."

Yoda chuckled. "Commendable, you ambition is," he half-teased, "but better for you rest tonight, it is. A long day of training, you've already had; rest now, you should."

Toshiro almost smiled. _These guys sure don't know me very well,_ he thought as he finished up his dinner.

l***l

The hologram of Darth Tyranus gaped at him. "Master," the hologram said, obviously surprised but still somehow managing to keep his composure, "I don't see how you expect me to kill that boy! I doubt even Master _Yoda_ could deflect that… _ice thing_!"

"Fool," Sidious spat acidly. "The solution is obvious. That boy's ability is _ice_. All you need to do is lure him to a planet _too hot_ for ice to exist on."

The lumen globe went on in Dooku's head. "Like Tatooine," he said darkly.

His Master smiled. "Exactly."

l***l

Master Yoda sat meditating in his quarters a few hours after dinner, when he felt the presence of Mace Windu draw near. He slowly brought himself out of meditation just in time to hear the light tap on his door. "Come in," he called.

Mace stepped through the door. "Forgive me for intruding, Master Yoda, but there's something I need to speak with you about."

Yoda motioned towards the other cushion, and Mace took his seat. "I didn't notice this until the battle earlier today," Mace continued, "but that Toshiro Hitsugaya… is a _living shatterpoint_."

The Grand Master raised his ears at the Master of the Order's surprising report. "Oh?"

Mace nodded. "His very arrival here… has forever changed the course of the Galaxy."

"Hmm…" Yoda closed his eyes in thought. "Targeting him, someone is," he said at length. He opened his eyes. "The way described it, he did… a Sith, it sounded very much like."

Mace's brow furrowed. "Could it be Dooku?"

Yoda shook his head. "No. Already ruled that out, we did. However…" His face became sad as he connected some dots in his head. "Connected to Dooku, this Sith could be. Perhaps…" His ears drooped a little. "Dooku's new Master."

"Why do you say that?" Mace asked, not quite following Yoda's logic.

"Received many warnings and insight from the Force, Toshiro has," Yoda explained. "One of them, that the purpose of the battle was to observe him, it was. Knows, Dooku does, that ever be successful, an attack like that on the Temple, would not. Some other purpose, he must've had. So, if attacked the Temple to observe Toshiro himself, Dooku did not, then perhaps attacked the Temple on behalf on someone else, he did. And, if a Sith that someone is, then likely it is, that Dooku's new Master, it is."

Mace nodded in understanding. "If this Sith is so interested in Toshiro," he mused, "then that would explain why he's such a big shatterpoint. If Toshiro weren't here, the Sith wouldn't have any interest in him, and probably wouldn't have launched that attack."

Yoda nodded in agreement. "A strange urgency to train him, I've felt," he thought aloud, his voice low, almost secretive. "Know why I felt this urgency until a few hours ago, I did not. But now, seen a future confrontation between him and this Sith, I have. Too clouded by the Dark Side to see who the Sith was, the vision was." He looked up at Mace. "Prepared for this future battle, Toshiro _must_ be. Plenty prepared he is, combat-wise; however, mentally and emotionally… a _lot_ of work, he needs. Help immensely, it would also, if learn more control over his own power, he could. If prepared when the time comes, he is not…" He shook his head. "Fall into darkness, he will."

"And that's something we _definitely_ don't want to happen," Mace muttered, "with how strong he is already." He stood up. "I'm going to call a council meeting tomorrow morning, probably right after breakfast."

Yoda nodded. "Until then, may the Force be with you."

"And with you, Master Yoda."

l***l

Toshiro hit the "send" button on his cell phone. He had deliberately left out how he felt he was being targeted; his official report to Soul Society didn't need to include his own personal circumstances. All they really cared about were the cold hard facts.

_Someone_ had to be told about it, though. And right now, there was really only one person he could trust with that kind of information.

"Hey, Cap~tain!"

Toshiro's eyes closed in annoyed disgust. "You've been drinking."

Rangiku was obviously surprised. "You can tell? Wow, that's amazing, Captain! It's even been a few hours-"

"Are you sober enough to listen to some important information?" Yet another one of his Vice-captain's traits that made him wonder why he didn't fire her: she drank _way_ too much (at least from his point of view).

And one of the few reasons he _didn't_ fire her: she instantly became serious and respectful once she heard his terse tone. "Yes, sir."

"Don't tell Hinamori, I don't want her to worry… but… I'm pretty sure I'm in danger."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone's targeting me. I don't know who it is, but…" He paused, realizing that he'd have to give her some background info so she'd get it. "This place… is really weird, Matsumoto. I mean, _really_ weird. I've… had visions, of the future, without even meaning to. Plus… I keep feeling this, _dark_ reiatsu. It's not the same as when I sense the reiatsu of someone nearby; it's just… _there_. Like someone's trying to get to me over a long distance. I don't know who this is, or why they're targeting me. But… I can _feel_ that someone's definitely targeting me. I don't know how to explain it. This isn't at all like the 'feelings' I get in Soul Society; those are mostly just gut hunches. This is _way_ different. It's like… someone's _warning_ me that I'm in danger. The Jedi attribute their powers to this really abstract thing called 'the Force', and apparently, it's this 'Force' that's giving me these warnings."

"How strange…"

"Tch, tell me about it. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads-up."

"Yes, sir."

He paused for a moment. "How's Hinamori?"

Rangiku's voice softened. "She's doing better. I invited her over for lunch and dinner, but she should be resting now. I escorted her to her room, but with that girl, you just never really know."

"I see. Thank you, Matsumoto."

"Don't mention it. Hey, Captain…"

"… What?"

"Can I ask you something… personal?"

_Oh, great._ "Depends on what it is."

"I promise I won't tell anyone, but I was just wondering… do you _like_ Hinamori? As in, you know, _more_ than just a friend?"

His eyes shot open. He actually pulled the phone away from his face and glared at it for a few long seconds before he answered her. "What makes you think I like her like _that_?" he challenged.

"Well," she teased, "this might just be me, but… it seems pretty obvious that a guy likes a girl when he _teases_ her about her _breasts_ being too small."

His fists clenched, and he gritted his teeth. This woman was **so** going to get it when he got back. "That's not what I said," he seethed. "And how'd you know about that, anyway?"

"Hinamori told me."

His eyes snapped open even wider. "_WHAT?_"

He could hear her stifle a laugh. Which made him that much more thoroughly ticked off. "Yeah, she told me at lunch today. You don't have to worry though, Captain; no one else was around when she told me."

_Thank flippin' goodness,_ he thought irritably.

She chuckled. "My goodness, I never thought _you'd_ be so shy, Captain!"

"Shut up! Besides, I'm not shy."

"Oh? Well, then you won't mind if I tell Hinamori you like her, right?"

"I never said I liked her like _that_."

"You never said you _didn't_, either."

_**Crap.**_ She'd sure hit the nail on head with that one. The only time she'd ever suspected him "liking" someone before was with a girl in the Real World, and he had instantly made it very clear that he did _not_ "like" her. Still, he wasn't about to lose this argument. "So what if I do?" he spat.

"No~thing," she replied. "I was just curious."

Far beyond frustrated and at a complete loss for anything else to say, he decided to end the conversation. "Goodnight, Matsumoto."

"Night, Captain!"

He hung up and placed his cell phone back in his haori. _Gosh_, that woman was annoying!

He turned to look out the window, but caught a glimpse of his reflection instead. He was _blushing_. Something he never, _ever_ did in public. _Great._ At least Rangiku wasn't here to see that their debate about him liking Momo had made him flippin' _blush_.

Despite what is Vice-captain might think, he was _not_ shy. If he was, he wouldn't have teased Momo about looking like a kid, which was an _obvious_ reference to her small breasts. Hey, it wasn't _his_ fault Momo was too innocent-minded to realize that he'd been flirting with her. Also, the main reason he'd teased her about it was because he knew that she was sensitive about it, not because he thought they were "too small" (which they weren't). And the only reason he didn't want anyone to know how he really felt about Momo was because he didn't want to be teased about it.

He gathered from the amount of light outside that it wasn't _quite_ time for bed yet, but he was irked and exhausted, so he decided to go to bed early. Besides, he needed all the sleep he could get so he could get the most out of his "mind-training" tomorrow.

l***l

_He saw Momo._

_She was running into a building. He followed, about a hundred meters behind her._

_He entered the building. Momo wasn't there._

_Aizen was._

_His fists clenched as his heart burned with hate. "Where is she?" he demanded._

_Aizen unsheathed his sword. "I'll make you a deal," he said, his voice cool, smooth, sickeningly trustable. "I'll fight you at Vice-captain level. If you can defeat me, I'll show you where she is."_

_He didn't trust Aizen. But he had no choice._

_He tore Hyorinmaru out of its sheath, then lunged at Aizen, fiery anger ablaze in his turquoise eyes. This man deserved to die. Not just because of what he'd done to Momo, but also because of the slaughter of the Office of 46, and many other innocents who had fallen by his hand._

_Their blades clashed again and again. Amazingly, Aizen kept his word; he was obviously fighting at Vice-captain level. But Toshiro didn't really care. He hated this man. Hated him for what he'd done to his precious Momo. Hated him for deceiving everyone, especially himself. Hated him for betraying Soul Society. The list could go on for ages._

_In fact, he couldn't find a single reason to _not_ hate Aizen._

_The anger burned inside him, the way a sharp blizzard wind could be so cold that it burned. He allowed this hatred to add power and speed to his strikes, hoping to send this traitorous son of a biscuit-eating bulldog to his grave with every blow._

_His chance came. He knocked Aizen's sword out of the way, then buried Hyorinmaru's blade deep into his chest, right where his heart should be._

_Aizen's image shattered._

_He froze. No. No, no, no, no, no…_

_**NOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_

_It was Momo._

_His hands trembled, but wouldn't budge. The hands that held the sword that was piercing Momo's heart._

His_ sword._

_He couldn't speak. His entire body was locked in ice, it seemed. This couldn't be happening. He loved her._

_He __**loved**__ her!_

_"Captain!" Rangiku's voice sounded a million kilometers away. He so desperately wanted to tell Momo that he'd thought she was Aizen, that he didn't mean to hurt her, that he would __**never**__ hurt her, that he __**loved**__ her-_

_A blade pierced his heart from behind._

_He turned, and for a second, he saw Rangiku holding the sword that was piercing him. Then, her image shattered._

_It was Aizen._

_"See, Hitsugaya-kun? I told you I'd show you where she was."_

_The world went black…_

l***l

Toshiro bolted up in his bed. Cold sweat soaked his quaking skin. His heart hammered in his heaving chest. His eyes were wide open in the dark room.

No… no…

He leaned forwards, clenching his forehead with both hands, his teeth lightly chattering. He stayed in that position for several minutes.

No… Oh please, no…

A barely audible tap on the door nearly made him jump twenty meters in the air. "Who's there?" he called, unable to stop his voice from trembling.

The door opened.

It was Yoda.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"What the heck do _you_ want?" Toshiro snapped.

Yoda stared at him, his face expressionless. "A vision, you had," he said softly.

"So? That's none of your business! Go away!" He tended to get like this whenever he was in real distress. When he was hurting this bad on the inside, he just wanted everyone to leave him the heck alone.

Yoda brought his cane in front of him, and rested both hands on top of it, making it clear that he was not going anywhere. "What see, did you?"

"I said _**go away**_!" If Yoda didn't turn around and leave **right** now-

"Heard you, I did. Regardless, leave you in this condition, I will not."

That's it.

He'd done this before, a few months ago, actually. Kusaka had come back to life, stolen a valuable object from Soul Society, and fled. Toshiro, harrowed up by the memory of his best-friend's murder years earlier, had gone after Kusaka on his own. He would not accept help from anyone; he was so stubbornly fixed on finding Kusaka on his own, that he would actually turn on and attack anyone who tried to help him.

Which is what he did to Yoda.

He reached for his zanpakuto, but his body suddenly lurched forwards, as if it had fallen into a vacuum. A split-second later, he was face-down next to Yoda, with one of Yoda's small hands and a ton of reiatsu pushing down on his back, pinning him to the spot.

l***l

Yoda could sense a being's intent to attack from light-years away.

He hadn't had to physically restrain someone he considered to be a friend in centuries. Well, calling it "physical" restraint wasn't very accurate; there was no way in the galaxy he'd be able to restrain Toshiro with his physical strength alone. He was letting his strength in the Force to the bulk of the pinning-down for him.

This was _exactly_ what he'd been afraid of. Although Toshiro appeared to have superb self-control and inner strength to the public, it was really all just a cover-up. Deep inside, behind all the masks, he was very emotionally fragile. On top of that, he refused to be helped. If he continued on like this, falling to the Dark Side would be inevitable.

Which is why Yoda would not leave until these emotional issues were resolved.

l***l

Toshiro was furious.

"Let… go… of… me!"

"No."

He strained to pick himself up, but even his own vast reiatsu couldn't overpower Yoda's. He thought about using Kido, but his thoughts were heard, and Yoda expertly shifted his reiatsu to hold Toshiro's hands in place.

"Acting like a child, you are. Trying to help you, I am. Let you up, I will, when ready to talk, you are."

That whole comment about him acting like a child _really_ got on his nerves. Comments like that always did. "What do you care? Just leave me alone! I don't want your help!"

"A choice in this matter, _neither_ of us have, anymore."

"What the heck? What does _that_ mean?" What happened to the whole, "it's your choice to accept my help" deal? He better not have been flippin' lied to!

"A vision I've had, concerning you and this, 'dark reiatsu' you've been feeling." Yoda's voice was unusually terse and heavy. "A Sith, that 'reiatsu' is. A confrontation, there will be, between you and this Sith. Try to lure you to the Dark Side, he or she will. Experienced the temptation of the Dark Side yet, you have not. Harder to resist than you might think, it is. If resolved, these emotional issues of yours are not, fall to the Dark Side, and thus become a great threat and danger to this galaxy, you will. As Grand Master of the Jedi Order, allow that to happen, I can_not_."

…oh, crap.

Yoda was right. As much as Toshiro didn't want him to be right, as much as he wanted to kick and scream and struggle and fight, he could not deny that darned eerie feeling of "knowing" that Yoda was right. Yoda wasn't _volunteering_ to help him anymore – he was _obligated_ to help him. Yoda had told Toshiro some about the Sith and the "Dark Side" during that first long conversation after the demonstration. From what Toshiro understood, Sith were basically evil Jedi who used their powers for personal gain, almost always at the expense of others. The _last_ thing Toshiro wanted was to turn into _anything_ like _that_.

Still, his traumatized stubbornness prevented him from submitting completely. The "vision" (oh how he wished Yoda hadn't called it that) was still fresh in his mind. Yoda's hand on his back still made him squirm. He was by no means ready to talk. He didn't even know where he was supposed to begin, what he was supposed to say.

l***l

Yoda could tell that Toshiro had stopped struggling, which was good. He sensed some… _hesitation_ in him, though, which meant that Toshiro would need to be prodded a bit more to actually open up. Which posed the question: what was it exactly that was causing Toshiro so much grief? The vision was undoubtedly part of it, but it wasn't the whole picture. He'd had emotional issues long before then, Yoda could tell.

He remembered how quick Toshiro had been to turn a cold shoulder to the younglings the other day; how easy it was for him to lose all trust with someone, and how much difficulty he had with trusting anyone in the first place; how obviously uncomfortable he was with any sort of physical contact with anyone else. One might call it caution, but Yoda could tell that Toshiro was being far more cautious than he needed to be, _too_ cautious. This extreme caution, Yoda knew, was the kind that only sprouted from fear.

And just like that, he knew what was wrong.

"Why afraid of growing close to others, are you?"

l***l

Normally, Toshiro preferred getting straight to the point as soon as possible. But when it came to his own personal life, having someone wade through all the complicated emotional junk and pick up on the one thing at the true heart of the matter, especially when that person had only known him for a few days, was just plain creepy.

It gave him something to form a response around, though, so he was grateful in that small respect. His heart still ached from the "vision". He could feel tears forming, but he held them back fiercely. Crying was another thing he _never_ did when others were around. Fortunately, he was able to prevent himself from crying by focusing on the question Yoda had just asked.

It really made him think, actually. He'd always known that he was cold and distant from others, but he'd never really stopped to ask _why_ he was that way. At first he couldn't figure it out. In all honesty, he wasn't a "cold" person at all. He may act that way 24/7, but that wasn't who he really was. It's just that, for whatever odd reason, he didn't want anyone to know about his warm, fun, caring side. Only those few fortunate people he'd grown especially close to had ever seen that side of him: Momo, his granny, and Kusaka.

His granny… Kusaka… Momo. His "genius" mind began connecting some scattered dots between those three people.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

He was about to ask Yoda to let him up, when the ton of reiatsu that was pinning him down lifted, and the pressure of the small hand on his back lessened dramatically. He sat up slowly, his fists gradually uncurling, and his countenance forlorn. It took him a few seconds to find his voice. "Everyone I've gotten really close to…" he muttered, "…has gotten hurt, because of me."

Yoda's hand lifted completely off of Toshiro's back, and rested atop the other one on his cane. His face was the perfect image of tender concern. Toshiro waited for a moment to see if Yoda would prod him further. He didn't.

Toshiro swallowed. He was _very_ uncomfortable with talking about himself like this. "Soul Society is divided into two main areas," he continued at length. "the Shinigami and nobles live in Seireitei, and everyone else lives in Rukongai, which is divided into districts. Hinamori and I used to live together with my granny in Rukongai. Back then, granny and Hinamori were the only ones in our neighborhood… who weren't afraid of me.

"I don't know why everyone was so afraid of me," he continued, "I never did anything to them. But I could tell that they were. Everyone used to say that I was 'just like ice'. Granny and Hinamori were the only ones who wouldn't say it. I guess it made sense, my white hair, turquoise eyes, cold disposition. But… I still didn't like it when people said that about me.

"When Hinamori got accepted into the Shinigami Academy, I stayed with my granny so she wouldn't be lonely. I had power, I knew I had power; I'd had several dreams where I'd hear Hyorinmaru's voice calling to me from this field of ice. I knew I could be a Shinigami, but I didn't want to leave my granny all alone. Well… after Hinamori moved into the dorms at the Academy, granny started to lose a lot of weight. I was worried; I didn't know what was wrong with her.

"Five years later, Matsumoto (who was already a Shinigami by that time) ran into me at a store in Rukongai. She noticed that I had power, and apparently followed me back to my house. She was the one who made me realize…" He swallowed. "…that it was my own uncontrolled power, that was making my granny sick.

"I… really didn't want to leave my granny. I didn't want her to be all alone. But I had no choice. By just staying there, and not knowing how to control my power… I was killing her. When I told her that I was going to leave to the Academy…" He smiled a little. "She told me, that it hurt her more to know that I had been hiding my power for her sake, then it would if I left her all by herself."

He paused for a moment. "After I was accepted into the Academy, I became good friends with an older kid named Kusaka. Hinamori was a few years ahead of me, so Kusaka was really the only close friend I had. He would always try to beat me, and when I'd get a higher grade or do better than him, he'd always act amazed and call me a 'genius'. I mean, pretty much everyone said I was a 'genius' or 'child prodigy' because I was so young compared to the other students, but Kusaka… he really meant it. We used to say that we'd always be friends."

His face darkened. "Well, to make a long story short, Kusaka and I ended up getting the same zanpakuto: we both wielded Hyorinmaru. Two Shinigami wielding the same zanpakuto is practically unheard of in Soul Society; the zanpakuto's soul is born directly from the soul of its wielder, so to have two of the exact same sword was considered impossible. Because of this, the Office of 46 made us fight to determine the rightful owner.

"It was supposed to be a fight to the death. I wouldn't do it; Kusaka was my friend. I even offered to give up Hyorinmaru so we wouldn't have to fight, but the Office of 46 wouldn't have it. Kusaka really wanted Hyorinmaru, so… he attacked me. I had to defend myself. Before the fight was even over, the Office of 46 decided that I was the winner…" He swallowed again. "…and immediately sent in assassins to kill Kusaka."

He was quiet for awhile as his nightmare of a vision came rushing back to him. "You said… that I had a vision, just now." He could feel his face burn with anguish. "If that's really what it was…"

He had to stop. It was too much. He leaned forwards and clenched his forehead again, every ounce of energy focused on keeping his tears in check. It was too painful; he simply could not bear even the thought that he might ever hurt his dear Momo, let alone kill her.

Something touched his shoulder. A tsunami of peace washed over him, breaking down every wall and barrier that he'd put up to hide or "control" his emotions. The floodgates in his eyes were opened; tears poured out uncontrollably. His iron will had broken. Everything he'd kept locked away all his life, all the hurt and turmoil, had finally surfaced in full-force.

l***l

Yoda kept his hand on Toshiro's shoulder as he sobbed, grateful that he was able to use the calming effects of the Force to get him to open up completely. Toshiro desperately needed this. He needed to have a good cry. Keeping all these negative emotions locked inside was like ignoring a sliver; it may seem like a less painful solution, but it would actually cause much more pain and more problems in the long-run.

Toshiro's story was easily among the most heartbreaking accounts Yoda had ever heard. It revealed a lot of his good traits, though, traits that many Jedi had difficulty developing. First and foremost was the concept of sacrifice; or, to be more specific, sacrificing power for the benefit of others. With both his grandmother and Kusaka, Toshiro had been presented with a choice of either power, or the well-being of someone he was close to. And in both instances, he had deliberately chosen the well-being of those he was close to: he'd stayed at home to help his grandma, and he'd offered to give up his power so he wouldn't have to fight his friend.

Had he been training to be a Jedi, these choices would've been praised and supported. But, unfortunately, Soul Society apparently operated much differently. Even though Toshiro had made the right choice, the power he was so willing to give up had been forced upon him. And, because of this power, he had ended up hurting two of the people he was closest to.

Which made Yoda wonder… why had Toshiro continued to develop this power, after all the heartache it had caused him? Improving his skills to the point of reaching captain rank wasn't forced upon him as well, was it?

And then there was the matter of his extreme attachment to this Hinamori girl. Had he just grown so paranoid of losing another loved one, that he started focusing all of his attention on making sure she was safe at all costs? Hm… that would explain why he had gone on to become a captain. But before Yoda could jump to any more conclusions or start discussing these things with Toshiro, he had to know what Toshiro had seen in this most recent vision.

He'd wait for Toshiro to finish crying to ask about it.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Toshiro hadn't cried like this since Kusaka's death.

There was just too much. Too much hurt, too much regret, too much wishing that things could've been different. Part of him wished that he'd never had this power to begin with, but then he'd remember Momo, and what had happened with Aizen. Would she have died if he hadn't been there? He didn't know. Still, he felt a kind of security in knowing that he had power that he could use to protect her.

_Or kill her._

Just when he thought the tears were running out, the vision would stab him between the eyes. His sword, piercing her… it was too painful, too unbearable to even think about. It couldn't end like that! He'd rather kill himself, then have it end like that!

But then… what about that vision he'd had yesterday morning, while he was meditating that first time, the one about him and Momo in the future? Wasn't that a vision, too? But how could it be? It directly conflicted with the "vision" he'd just had…

He suddenly remembered that he hadn't told Yoda about the nightmarish "vision" yet. He quickly wiped his eyes (again), struggling to find his voice amidst the humiliating sobs. If _anyone_ in Soul Society got wind of this, he'd never live it down. On that note, it was almost a good thing that he'd had a breakdown in front of someone he didn't know very well, as opposed to breaking down in front of, say, Rangiku, or one of the other captains.

_Gosh_, he felt so stupid. Like a complete crybaby. And you know, the worst part about it was that Yoda had been right – he _was_ acting like a child. He hated it. He was a flippin' _captain_! He should be above all this stupid emotional crap!

"Seen _many_ Jedi Masters cry, I have," Yoda said out of nowhere, causing Toshiro to jump. "A sign of weakness, it is not; a sign of _compassion_, it is."

"Would you _quit_ that?!"

Yoda looked at him innocently, as if to ask, "Why? What did I do wrong?"

"That whole mind-reading thing! At least _pretend_ like you didn't hear it, jeez!" He let out a heavy sigh, took a couple deep breaths, and softened his voice. "I want to tell you… about this, dream, I just had. I know you said it was a vision, but… I'm not sure. I had another vision yesterday morning that completely conflicts with it."

"Hmm…" Yoda took his hand off of Toshiro's shoulder and sat next to him. "Unheard of, conflicting visions are not. Depending on what you saw in each, differ, their meanings will." He laid his cane neatly across his lap, and looked up at Toshiro. "Now," he said, his voice that of a tender parent, "what see in the first vision, did you?"

Although he was a little embarrassed, he told Yoda every detail he could recall from the first vision. He was only embarrassed because he knew that the vision would make it pretty obvious that he "liked" Momo as more than just a friend. It was strange, though… In a way, he felt like he was talking to his granny; and, somehow, that made it okay.

The second "vision" was much more difficult to talk about. Fortunately, whenever Toshiro started getting choked up from the pain, Yoda would send out this calming ripple of reiatsu, and a good chunk of the pain would just drift away. It was amazing, Toshiro thought, that these Jedi could be so insanely empathic and concerned about others, and at the same time (at least from what he had observed), be highly skilled warriors. Their whole attitude was miles apart from what it was in Soul Society.

It was… refreshing.

Yoda sat thinking for a few moments after Toshiro finished. The silence in the room felt rather comfortable, actually. Toshiro was fairly certain he'd never given a monologue like that in his entire life, at least, not about himself. He'd had to give informative speeches to his squad before, but that was part of his job, so it didn't really count.

"A warning, the second vision was," Yoda said softly.

Toshiro looked at him. "A… warning?"

Yoda nodded. "Always in motion is the future. Your conflicting visions, show you different paths, they do. Depend on your choices, which path you take will."

Toshiro went back to staring at his hands. "_What_ choices?" he asked at an almost inaudible level. "How do I prevent… the second vision… from happening?"

Yoda shrugged. "Know, I do not. Answer that question, only you can."

Toshiro snorted. Yeah, like _that_ did him any good.

The room was quiet for a moment before Yoda spoke again. "Said earlier, you did, that a child compared to others in Soul Society, you are."

"Yeah. So?"

"Act as… mature as you do, do others your age?"

"Tch, _no_. Other kids my age… well, most of them wouldn't even be able to attend the Shinigami Academy. It's not like I'm the youngest Shinigami or anything, but… I _am_ the youngest Captain. The only other high-ranking Shinigami that I know of who's younger than me is the eleventh squad's Vice-captain. And if you ask me, the only reason she's the Vice-captain is because her Captain's the one who picked her; from what I understand, he found her as an infant in one of the bloodiest districts of Rukongai, gave her a name, and started carting her around everywhere. She _completely_ acts her age: she runs around and bugs the other Captains a lot (mostly Captain Kuchiki, I've heard), and is just very annoying in general. Matsumoto thinks she's cute, but I just can't stand her."

"Why act your age, do you not?"

Toshiro shot him a look. "Uh, 'cause I'm a _captain_."

Yoda's ears raised, and he looked slightly amused. "So?" he chuckled. "Over eight hundred years old and the Grand Master of the Order I am, and still act like a youngling on occasion, _I_ do."

Toshiro's instinctive reaction was to shoot a rebuttal back at him, but he couldn't come up with anything decent, so he stayed quiet.

"Your entire adult life, you have, to act like an adult," Yoda said as he playfully poked Toshiro with the end of his cane. "Take advantage of this time to act like a child, you should."

Toshiro reflexively swatted the cane away. "Yeah," he muttered, "that'd be nice if I actually had _time_ to act like a kid." He rubbed his shoulder where Yoda had been poking it. "Freakin' Matsumoto never gets her flippin' work done, so I'm always stuck doing it instead."

Yoda chuckled. "An easy fix, _that_ should be."

Toshiro stared at him. An _easy fix_? A way to get his lazy-butt Vice-captain to actually _do her job_? _Really_? "I'm listening."

Yoda grinned. "Your Vice-captain she is, yes?" Toshiro nodded. "Then, control over some part of her job, you must have."

"Hmm…" Toshiro thought for a minute. He could see exactly where Yoda was going with this. Suddenly, it hit him. "Her salary!" he said quietly. "That's it! Matsumoto goes shopping all the time, so if I threaten to cut her salary…" He smiled. "Thanks. That-"

His cell phone rang.

He half-gaped, half-glared at it. "What the heck?? Who the heck's calling me at this time of night?" He stood up and walked towards his haori, then reached in and pulled out his phone.

His eyes shot open.

"_Hinamori…?!_"


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The vision.

It came roaring back into his mind like a monstrous flash-flood.

Quickly, he opened the phone. "Hello?"

"Hitsugaya-kun…!" There was a short pause. "I'm really sorry, for calling you so late… It's just, I couldn't sleep…"

Toshiro sat on the bed. Momo… Oh, his dear, sweet Momo…

"Idiot," he scolded softly. "I told you you could call me anytime, didn't I? Besides, I was already up."

"Really? Oh… that's good… I'm glad I didn't wake you up…"

"You sound pathetic."

"H-_huh_?"

"You shouldn't be so apologetic all the time," he chided. "If I say it's okay, then it's okay. Don't keep going on and on about it; it gets annoying."

She let out a light, submissive sigh. "Right…"

"Hey… are you, doing okay?"

She was quiet for a moment. "Kind-of. Rangiku-san's been really nice to me…" Another pause. "I believe you, Hitsugaya-kun. It's… been really hard, but… I know you wouldn't lie to me…"

The vision felt like a jackhammer pounding on the inside of his skull. "Hinamori… there's something else, you need to know… about me."

She was surprised. "About… Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Yes." His sword, piercing her…

"…What is it?"

"Hinamori…" He swallowed. He needed to tell her. All those things he'd been so desperate to tell her in the vision… he needed to tell them to her _now_, before it was too late.

"I thought you already knew this, but, with what happened, with that letter…" _Man_, this was hard. It just wasn't like him, to be so, so… _emotional_, like this. "Hinamori," he started again, "I need you to know… that I would never, _ever_, hurt you."

She sighed a little. "I know, Hitsugaya-kun-"

"No, no, you don't get it!" He squeezed his eyes closed as he held his forehead. "Momo-" whoops, Freudian slip there; he hadn't called her by her first name since they lived in Rukongai; it wasn't professional. "This isn't one of those things where you can just say 'I know' and be done with it. You… you really have to _know_ it; you have to know it no matter what else happens, even… even if something happens, that contradicts it…"

"Hitsugaya-kun… you… are you saying… that you want me to trust you, the way… the way that I… I trusted… Aizen?"

His fists and teeth clenched tighter. "Don't say it like that!" he snapped. "Don't _ever_ compare me to him!"

Momo was obviously startled by his raised voice. "S-sorry…"

Toshiro mentally kicked himself for yelling at her. He wanted to apologize, but the words just got all mixed up in the rest of the things he wanted to say. "Hinamori," he said, his voice softer, "can you… do that? Can you… trust me, like that?" The next word out of his mouth was further evidence of how desperate he was, and was a word that he never recalled saying to her before. "…Please?"

"…Is something wrong, Hitsugaya-kun?" Her voice was so genuinely sweet, so full of tender concern. "You're acting… different…"

He closed his eyes. His heart was caught between telling her about the dream (and sounding like a pathetic, frightened little kid), or saying that he was fine (when he knew she'd be able to tell that he was lying).

_"I believe you, Hitsugaya-kun… I know you wouldn't lie to me…"_

He needed her to trust him. If he lied to her now, he'd lose that trust.

"I… had a bad dream," he finally forced out, sounding even more scared and pathetic than he'd imagined.

"What was it about?" She sounded just like a gentle mother, calming her frightened child in the middle of a bad storm.

Which was exactly what Toshiro had been afraid she'd sound like.

He didn't want her to see him as a darned little kid anymore. He wanted her to look at him and see a _captain_, a _genius_, someone she should _look up to_.

At the moment, though, it was much more important to maintain her trust.

He decided to give her the main points of the dream, and nothing else. There was no need for her to know the details. "I dreamed…" Already, he could feel the fear and grief returning. "…that Aizen… used his zanpakuto… to make you look like him." He swallowed. "I attacked you, thinking you were Aizen…" His voice strained and trembled under the massive weight of his emotions. "I… I killed you… and I didn't even know it was you, until after… after I'd killed you…" He pulled the phone away from his face as he felt the blasted tears returning.

A ripple of calm reiatsu passed through Toshiro, sweeping some of the pain away with it. Toshiro looked up to see Yoda, sitting cross-legged where Toshiro had left him, with his eyes closed. Toshiro figured Yoda was meditating.

He put the phone back up to his ear just in time to hear Momo's response. "That's a _horrible_ dream!" She paused. "You… you really hate Aizen… don't you, Shiro-chan?"

"When are you going to stop calling me that?" he snapped. "And of course I hate him! Why shouldn't I?" His voice went soft. "He… he almost _killed_ you, Hinamori… he had every intention of killing you…" His heart was dying to tell her how lost he'd be if she was gone, how utterly pointless and empty his life would be without her. "I…"

_I love you,_ he wanted to say.

But there was still that stubborn part of him, that side that was afraid of telling her the complete truth. After all, he was still a child in her eyes; still that same bratty little boy she'd lived with in Rukongai. It would be foolish of him to think that she'd _ever_ take him seriously.

But oh, how he _loved_ her! How his heart longed to tell her, to just slip it out and get it all over with!

_No,_ he told himself. _Don't tell her yet. She'd probably just giggle and think it was cute…_

"… 'you' what?" Her sweet voice pulled his mind back to the conversation.

"Never mind," he said with a sigh. "I'll… I'll tell you later." _Like in a few years. Maybe._

"Oh… okay…"

He needed to end this conversation. "Look, I don't want to keep you up any longer; you need to get some rest."

"W-wait…"

l***l

Momo sat on her bed, both hands holding her cell phone up to her ear. She couldn't recall ever hearing Toshiro sound so distressed before. She had called him hoping that he'd tease her, or even just scold her for being up so late; really anything to make her laugh or smile. She'd never dreamed that she'd catch him right after he woke up from such a horrible nightmare…

Even though she knew he was a captain, her heart still worried about him. She was afraid that something might happen to him, that she might lose him somehow. Losing Aizen had been hard enough; but to lose her little Shiro-chan on top of it…

"Hitsugaya-kun… you… you're not… in danger or anything… right? You… you'll come back… right?"

l***l

Toshiro had to think for a minute. He knew she'd worry too much if he told her _exactly_ what was going on, but he didn't want to lie to her, either. "I already told you I'd come back," he chided softly, hoping that that would be enough to satisfy her.

"I-I know, but-"

"Quit worrying about me."

_That_ got her attention. "But-!"

"'But' nothing. I'm not in any more danger here than I would be if I was in Soul Society right now." That statement was only true because he knew that, had he remained in Soul Society, he would've definitely been recruited to the mini-army that the Captain-Commander was organizing to fend off Aizen. "Now get some rest."

"Wait…!"

"…what is it?"

A pause. "Please… please be careful, Hitsugaya-kun…"

He sighed. "I will; now get to sleep."

"…Goodnight, Hitsugaya-kun."

"Goodnight, Hinamori." He hung up, then stared at the phone in his hands for a moment before placing it back into his haori.

"Love her, you do."

Toshiro had almost expected Yoda to say something out of the blue like that, so he wasn't all that surprised when it actually happened. "Yeah," he retorted as he resumed his previous sitting position on the floor. "So?"

Yoda sighed and closed his eyes again. "Complicated, this makes things." Yoda's voice sounded like he was just thinking aloud.

"How?"

"Attached to her, you are, and nearly killed her, Aizen did. Hate Aizen for hurting her, you do."

"Well, _yeah_, of course I hate him. Every sane and loyal Shinigami hates Aizen."

Yoda gave him a hard look. "An emotion of the Dark Side, hatred is."

Toshiro gawked at him. "Are you saying that I'm not allowed to hate anyone?" The very thought was just insane. "And if I do, I'll turn 'to the Dark Side', or whatever?"

"One thing it is, to be angry with someone; quite another, it is, when allow that anger to turn to hatred, and allow it to take control of your actions, you do."

Toshiro was completely lost. He understood the concept of someone's actions being _influenced_ or _motivated_ by anger and/or hatred, but to have them _take control_? "What do you mean, 'take control'?"

"In your vision, allowed your hatred for Aizen to control you, you did." Toshiro was about to object, but Yoda held up a finger, signaling that he was not finished. "If let your anger control you during the fight, you had not, recognize Hinamori's fighting style, you might have, and thus deduced that fighting her you were, instead of Aizen."

Toshiro's mouth hung agape for a few seconds in mild astonishment. Yoda's logic was not only sound, but his insight was just… _profound_. No one in Soul Society would've even _thought_ to look at this scenario in that light. Suddenly, Toshiro felt both guilty and stupid; guilty because he could've stopped himself from killing Momo, and stupid for not seeing something so simple.

"Get back to sleep now, we both should," Yoda announced as he stood up. He placed a hand on Toshiro's shoulder, and although Toshiro was obviously still uncomfortable with the physical contact, he didn't recoil like he usually did. "See you at breakfast, I will?"

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah." Toshiro watched the little green man as he hobbled to the door.

"…thank you."

Yoda stopped. His ears raised, and he turned to Toshiro with a warm smile on his face. "Welcome, you are."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

_She was in his room, kneeling a few yards in front of him. It was nighttime. She looked distressed._

_She had come to him for comfort._

_He loved her. He couldn't hide it anymore. His heart would explode if he didn't tell her._

_His eyes fell on her lips. He licked his own._

_He wanted to kiss her._

_He walked towards her. Knelt down. Used his hands to delicately position her head. Ignored her shocked expression._

_Covered her mouth with his own._

_…__**bliss**__…_

_He'd done the right thing. She would love him back. He __**knew**__ it…_

l***l

Toshiro reluctantly lifted his heavy eyelids. He blinked a few times to help re-orient himself.

His eyes shot open. His cheeks flushed and burned.

Did… did he just dream…_**!**_

Quickly, he sat up, rubbing his face and taking deep breaths. He'd _never_ dreamed (or even thought, really) of _kissing_ Momo. Especially not like… _that_…

He expected to feel completely grossed out, but when he thought back on the actual kiss (of which he remembered in exquisite detail), he felt… _good_… in a very strange way. There was just this… _amazing_ feeling that came over him. He didn't know what it was; that scared him a little.

Still…

Toshiro closed his eyes. The sweet kiss played over and over in his mind, often in slow motion. Slowly, gradually, he allowed himself to truly savor the taste and feel of it…

_…oh, sweet mercy…_

What _was_ this feeling? Oh, _gosh_, it was _amazing_…

His mind was suddenly swept away, as if it were being pulled out to sea by a strong ocean current. He saw images of his dear Momo: her beautiful face, pretty eyes, bubbly laugh so sweet it made his heart sigh. It became very apparent to him just how completely in love with her he was, just how much he truly needed her. She was his life, his heart, his ultimate reason for existence. As this realization came to him, he started to see images in the background of his mind. They gently reminded him of various happenings since his arrival to this dimension: the mind-training, the dark reiatsu, the visions he'd had. A deep sense of peace settled in his soul. The visions and events started forming a pathway of sorts in his mind, showing him where he was and where he needed to go…

His eyes opened. His soul was filled with a strong, peaceful resolve. I occurred to him that he had _never_ felt such strong resolve without some kind of anger or rage attached to it.

He got dressed and headed to the dining hall. He knew what he had to do.

_Nothing_ would keep him from his Momo.

l***l

Yoda was just about to start eating when he felt Toshiro's presence approaching. Even without specifically focusing on it, he could tell that it had changed.

It was obviously a change for the better.

As Toshiro came into view, Yoda could see in his face and body language the same change he'd felt in the boy's presence. Fear, anger, hatred, even pain; none of them were to be found. In their stead was a deep inner peace, coupled with the strong resolve of a Jedi. Whereas before his presence had been like a strong barrier concealing deep inner turmoil, now it shone brightly from the core of his being, no longer needing to be suppressed or hidden.

Yoda couldn't have asked for a more perfect transformation.

l***l

"Yaddle," Toshiro asked about half-way through breakfast, "how soon can we resume the mind-training with Yarael?"

Yaddle swallowed what was in her mouth. "A council meeting there is, right after breakfast. After that, resume the training, we can."

"Come to this meeting with us, you should," Yoda invited as he took another bite.

"Alright," Toshiro responded.

l***l

Toshiro and the members of the Jedi High Council filed into the High Council Chamber. As they entered, each of them noticed a large holopad lying on the center of the floor. No one knew where it had come from.

Yoda curiously walked up to the device as everyone (besides Toshiro) sat in their designated spots. He picked it up, and, noticing that there was already a display disk in it, pressed "play".

A blue Dooku appeared.

"Greetings," he said as Yoda struggled to look into the face of his former pupil. "Time is of the essence, so I will make this brief. I know that you are hiding a young boy with white hair and extraordinary power inside of the Jedi Temple. I also know that the media and public in general are not even aware of this boy's existence. The huge lump of ice that sat outside the Jedi Temple for hours is still of 'unexplained origin', as far as the public is concerned. Many, as you are most certainly aware, have grown skeptical of the Jedi because of this. It would be a tragedy and a pity if someone of credibility were to leek information to the media that would cause the Senate to question the Jedi and their motives.

"Keeping that in mind, I would like to make a request. Bring the boy to Tatooine immediately after viewing this hologram. He must be alone, but he can be armed if he so wishes. If you do not bring the boy to Tatooine in the appropriate amount of time, there will be _dire_ political consequences for the Jedi Order.

"May the Force be with you all."

Dooku disappeared.

l***l

Everyone was thinking it, but Toshiro was the first one to say it aloud: "Sounds like a trap."

"Tatooine is in a binary star system," Mace said tersely. Toshiro sent him an _I don't get it_ look. "It has two suns," he clarified.

Toshiro's eyes shot open. "_Two suns?_" That was **bad** news. Toshiro didn't do very well in the heat as it was…

"I doubt your ice attacks will be of any use there," Mace added needlessly. "Any standing water that isn't kept in a cool location almost instantly turns to vapor."

Toshiro's mind kicked into high gear. Temperature normally wasn't that much of a problem for him during a battle, since one of Hyorinmaru's basic abilities allowed him to control all of the water within the planet's atmosphere; he could usually make it snow in the desert if he wanted to. "How much water is there on Tatooine?" he asked.

"Almost none. Less than one percent of the planet's surface is covered in water, and the average humidity is less than six percent."

_Crap._ The entire situation was just getting worse. "If those are the conditions, then the only way I can fight him is if I use my Bankai from the get-go. I do really bad in the heat unless I'm fighting, and the only way I'll probably be able to get the air cool enough to use any of Hyorinmaru's attacks is if I use Bankai."

"What's _Bankai_?" Mace asked.

"It's the second and final stage of a zanpakuto's release. The release you've seen me do with the ice dragon is called Shikai. A Shinigami's battle capabilities multiply by a factor of five to ten when their zanpakuto is in Bankai mode." Another thought came to him. "How heavily populated is Tatooine?"

"Not very populated at all; there are only a few cities and spaceports scattered around the small habitable part of the planet."

"That's good," Toshiro muttered. There was a specific technique he planned on using, given the extremely crappy conditions he'd be forced to fight in. Problem was, he'd never used this particular technique in Bankai mode before, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to control it; he could end up accidentally killing anyone and everyone in his general vicinity.

"Careful, you must be." Yoda's voice was low, almost sad in tone. "Want to fight you, Dooku may not. Strongly advise you, I would, to not rush into a battle with him."

Toshiro shot him an _are you nuts?_ look. "Why? With all due respect, I know he was your pupil and all, but if I stand in the heat of _two suns_ for too long, I'll collapse from heat exhaustion. I told you, I don't do well in the heat unless I'm fighting. Besides, why would he threaten you guys like that unless he planned on hurting me? I'm not just going to stand there and wait for him to catch me off guard."

"Be able to get some information out of him, you might," Yaddle said.

Toshiro closed his eyes and sighed, half out of frustration, and half because he was thinking. "I'll try to do that, but I can't make any guarantees."

"Why don't you use Kido?" Yarael asked.

Toshiro's muscles tensed. "I can't. Whoever Dooku's probably working for might be watching me; I don't want to reveal any more of my abilities to them than I have to."

"I think we should get going," Saesee Tiin said suddenly. "Dooku's likely waiting for us on Tatooine already."

"Be taking Toshiro, you will?" Yoda asked.

Master Tiin nodded. "I'll stay as close to the star system as possible after I drop him off, in case things get ugly, or he defeats Dooku and needs a lift back here."

"Looks like we don't really have a choice," Mace huffed under his breath. "Unless anyone has something more to say, Master Tiin, Toshiro, you two are free to go."

Master Tiin gave a slight bow of the head. "May the Force be with you."

Toshiro was about to turn and follow him, but then stopped, remembering something _very_ important. He reached into his haori and pulled out his cell phone. "Hey, Yoda… could you, keep this for me? It's the only link I have to Soul Society… I don't want it to get damaged."

Yoda held out his hand, wrapping his fingers around the phone as Toshiro placed it in his palm. "Keep it safe, I will," he promised.

"Thank you." Toshiro turned to Master Tiin, and remembered something else rather important. "Um… are you-"

"Don't worry," he said, apparently aware of Toshiro's concern. "Your thoughts won't be a distraction to me."

Toshiro breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Right. Let's go."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Toshiro sat in the backseat of Master Tiin's personal fighter, downing bottle after bottle of water. It had been Tiin's suggestion, and if the climate on Tatooine was as hot and dry as the Jedi Council had described, then drinking this much water made a lot of sense.

Outer space (not to mention the whole jump to light speed thing) was an awesome experience. In Soul Society, stars were just pretty specks of light that you looked up at at night. No one ever thought about actually _visiting_ those stars, or even that there might be other planets with people living on them. Toshiro sat in awed silence for a few moments, staring through the glass cockpit, just soaking everything in.

"Tatooine is in the Outer Rim Territories, so it'll take us awhile to get there," Master Tiin said suddenly. "If there's anything you can do to prepare yourself for battle between now and then, even if it's just meditating, I suggest you take advantage of this time and do so."

"Alright." It was a good idea. Toshiro had been hoping he'd have some time to get ready, anyway.

Hyorinmaru was on his lap. He pulled it out of its sheath, then laid it in both hands, and closed his eyes. Years of practice made this whole ritual second-nature to him. He allowed his conscious mind to sink down into the depths of his soul, down to where Hyorinmaru's spirit resided within him. Anyone who had achieved Shikai was familiar with this kind of training. It allowed a Shinigami to communicate with their zanpakuto, and learn new skills from them, thus becoming a stronger fighter.

Almost immediately, Toshiro felt the familiar sting of a winter wind whipping over his skin. He didn't open his eyes until he was certain that he was surrounded by the icy fields of his inner world (as it was called). As soon as his eyes opened, he found himself gazing up at the fiercely majestic, winged Hyorinmaru – the most powerful ice-type zanpakuto in existence.

l***l

For once in his career, Master Tiin found that he had to use the ship's built-in autopilot system instead of navigating himself. It wasn't that the boy's mind was too strong; it was just that the flashes he was getting of the boy's thoughts were _very_ interesting, and he wanted to focus more on them for a few moments.

He opened his mind, honing in on the signals coming from Toshiro. The first thing he saw was so… _unexpected_… that it almost frightened him.

There was a _huge_ ice-creature standing in front of Toshiro, in an ice-covered world that reminded Tiin of Hoth. The more Tiin studied the creature, the more he realized that it was basically a legless, ice-made version of the rare and mysterious Duinuogwuin, otherwise known as Star Dragons.

He brought his mind back to the present, and flipped the auto-pilot off. Whatever Toshiro was doing, Tiin knew it would be best to save his own questions for later.

l***l

_"Toshiro…"_

Hyorinmaru's voice echoed in Toshiro's inner world, like thunder resounding in the distance. "What is it?" Toshiro replied, his voice as calm as he felt. Hyorinmaru may be the most powerful ice-type zanpakuto in all of Soul Society, but he was Toshiro's power, and, in a way, his friend.

_"Something… has changed…"_

"…What do you mean?"

A pause. _"I'm not sure. This place… has changed something, inside of you. I do not know what the change is yet, but I can feel something… strange… something that wasn't here before."_ He tilted his head upwards, as if to catch a scent of whatever had changed.

This worried Toshiro. He knew that Hyorinmaru wouldn't bring up something like this unless it was important. "How urgent is it?"

Hyorinmaru tilted his head back down to look directly at Toshiro. _"Not too urgent. I just wanted you to be aware."_

"I see. Thank you." Toshiro decided to switch subjects. "This planet we're going to… the conditions are really bad, for your abilities…"

_"I know. I heard."_ Since a zanpakuto's soul lives within the soul of its wielder, it hears and experiences everything its Shinigami does.

"Do you think your abilities will work in those conditions?"

_"It's difficult to tell. Once you're actually in the environment for awhile, I'll have a better idea."_

"How long do you think you'll need?" Toshiro wasn't sure how long he could last in the heat of _two_ suns…

_"It shouldn't take long. I'll let you know when I'm ready."_

"Fair enough." Toshiro wasn't thrilled that he'd have to stand practically defenseless in the heat for awhile, but it didn't look like he had a choice. One thing was for certain: he would **not**, under **any** circumstances, use Kido. He may be forced to use his Bankai given the conditions, but for some reason, he wasn't all that bothered by it. Whoever was targeting him already knew that his zanpakuto's abilities were ice-based, and had already found a way to possibly negate them. But they _didn't_ know about Kido, and as long as that remained the case, Toshiro felt he'd be safe.

l***l

"We're here."

Toshiro opened his eyes as Master Tiin brought the ship out of hyperspace. He slipped Hyorinmaru back into its sheath, then drank another bottle of water for good measure.

Below them was a large, rust-colored sphere. Behind that sphere a ways were two suns, just as Toshiro had been warned. "How do we know where Dooku is, exactly?" Toshiro asked.

"I can locate him via his presence," Master Tiin replied. "I'll drop you off as close to where he is as possible. I'll have to leave immediately after that, but I'll stay close enough to follow what's happening."

"Alright."

The ship plunged towards Tatooine's surface.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"Hinamori!"

Momo jumped at Rangiku's scolding tone. "H-huh?"

"Eat something! Your breakfast is getting cold!"

Momo stared at the food in front of her, smiling a little. "Sorry… I'm, not really hungry…"

"_Eh?_ Not hungry?" Rangiku paused for a moment, noting Momo's countenance. She placed her hands on her hips and bent over. "What is it?" she demanded. "Why are you so depressed all of a sudden?"

Momo didn't look up. "Rangiku-san… have you ever seen Hitsugaya-kun… when he's… really scared?"

Her question caught Rangiku completely off-guard. "Scared? The Captain?" She thought for a moment. "Yeah, a couple of times, I guess. Why?"

Momo lifted her gaze. "When was it?"

Now Rangiku was _really_ confused. "_When_? Hinamori, what's going on?"

Momo bowed her head again and sighed. "I… called him, last night. It was really late, and I couldn't sleep… I was afraid I'd wake him up, but he was already awake…

"He said… that he'd had a really bad dream, and he… sounded so scared…"

Rangiku's eyes snapped wide open as flashbacks of her Captain's words started running through her mind. _"This place… is really weird, Matsumoto. I've… had visions, of the future, without even meaning to."_

_Visions of the future…_

Rangiku dropped to her knees and planted her hands on Momo's shoulders, startling her. "What did he see?" she asked urgently. "Did he tell you what his, _dream_, was about?"

Momo nodded. "Yes. He said that… he dreamed that Aizen used his zanpakuto… to make me look like him. Hitsugaya-kun attacked me, because I looked like Aizen. And… he ended up killing me…"

Rangiku's eyes were as big around as dinner plates by now. Then, her eyelids fell, her hands gripping Momo's shoulders a little tighter before she finally let go and sat down.

"What's wrong, Rangiku-san? It… was just a dream…"

"No. It probably _wasn't_ just a dream; that's why the Captain was so scared."

Momo's eyes took their turn as dinner plates. "Wh- what? What do you mean…?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you this," Rangiku continued, "but the Captain's told me some strange things about that place. Apparently, he's… had visions, of the future."

Momo's heart plunged into an ocean of numbing fear. "Visions… of the future…?" Was _that_ why he'd been so desperate to know that she trusted him? Was that horrid dream _really_ going to happen…?

l***l

Toshiro could've sworn that half of the water he drank during the flight there had completely left his body roughly five seconds after leaving the ship. It felt like every speck of exposed skin was being seared by hot metal. _How the heck do people __**live**__ here?_ he thought.

"Welcome to Tatooine."

Toshiro whipped around to find Dooku standing a few meters away, poised, collected, and sweating buckets.

Toshiro didn't have any time to waste. "Who do you work for?" he asked, resisting the urge to reach for his zanpakuto.

It was painfully obvious that Dooku knew just how big of an advantage he had. "That is none of your concern," he said coolly as he activated a red lightsaber. "All you need to know is that I have been ordered to… dispose of you."

Toshiro was _way_ passed ready to arm himself. Hyorinmaru was out and by his side before Dooku even had time to blink.

Which was good, because Dooku attacked that exact same instant.

As the sword-fight ensued, it quickly became _very_ apparent to Toshiro that Dooku was particularly skilled in the art of swordplay. Had they not been in the heat of _two flippin' suns_, Toshiro would've been able to at least hold his ground. But with this insane heat, he was having a considerable amount of trouble, and Dooku was pushing him past his limit.

All of a sudden, Toshiro saw huge, swirling torrents of sand coming towards them from behind Dooku. He blinked, and the sand was gone.

_**Sandstorm. Get inside.**_

The wind picked up ever so slightly. It was all motivation Toshiro needed.

He delivered a single, powerful blow, then masked his reiatsu and fled, using Shunpo in desperation. He was able to reach a small crevasse in a canyon wall before he had to stop and rest. He closed his eyes, his clothes soaked in sweat. Even in the shade, this place was just way too hot…

His mind was swept away, lead through the desert to a decent-sized colony, through the city streets, and to a specific house, in which only one woman lived. The shortest route to this house was programmed into his internal navigation system.

Toshiro opened his eyes and instantly followed the route his mind had mapped out for him, using Shunpo the whole way. He didn't bother knocking when he got to the door; whoever was inside likely wouldn't be able to see him anyways.

He opened and closed the door as quietly as possible. This small home was a little cooler than what it was outside, but it wasn't nearly enough. Plus, he was already dehydrated. _Oh man, what I wouldn't give for a Gigai right now,_ he thought. A Gigai was a synthetic "body" that Shinigamis used when they had to interact with living humans in the Real World with average or low spirit-power. If he had a Gigai, all he would have to do was ask the woman who apparently lived here for some water.

"Oh my!"

Toshiro jumped at the sound of an electronic, barely-male-sounding voice. Standing not too far away was what appeared to be an unfinished droid; there wasn't any plating on it to cover up all of the wires.

"Greetings, young sir." The droid bowed to him. "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Dooku could tell from the very first instant that his master's plan was going to work beautifully.

This boy hadn't been on Tatooine for five seconds, and already Dooku could feel his strength faltering. _Hm. Perfect,_ he thought.

"Welcome to Tatooine."

The boy whipped around. "Who do you work for?" he demanded.

Dooku was surprised at this question, but didn't allow his face to show it. So, the boy knew about Dooku's master… but _how_? "That is none of your concern," he said coolly as he activated a red lightsaber. "All you need to know is that I have been ordered to… dispose of you."

He attacked.

As the battle carried out, it was obvious that this boy had exceptional skill with a blade (especially for one so young). Were it not for the heat, Dooku surmised, the boy would've easily been able to hold his own. As it were, though, Dooku could tell that he would certainly be able to defeat this… _child_… if only by waiting for the boy's strength to fail him on account of the extreme heat.

Suddenly, the boy's presence in the Force flickered. He appeared to lose focus for the tiniest sliver of an instant, then re-focused, and delivered an incredibly powerful blow. The very force of the blow itself caused the sand around them to rise into the air momentarily. Dooku's reflexes forced him to blink in order to keep the sand out of his eyes.

His heart nearly stopped from shock upon re-opening his eyes. _The boy was gone!_ Not only that, but his presence had completely _vanished_…!

The wind began to pick up. He'd heard about the vicious sandstorms on Tatooine, and decided it best to wait out what was most likely a coming storm. There was a cantina in a nearby spaceport; a perfect place, he thought.

He'd deal with the missing boy _later_.

l***l

Rangiku dialed her Captain's cell. She knew it was rather nosy of her, but she and Momo both wanted – _needed_ – to know if there had been more to his "dream".

An old, gravelly voice answered the call. "Hello?"

Rangiku instantly became suspicious. "Who is this?" she demanded.

"Yoda, I am, Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Trying to reach Toshiro, you are?"

_What strange grammar…_ "Yes. Where is he?"

A thinking sigh. "Busy, he is. His Vice-captain, are you?"

"Yes." _Busy?_ That didn't seem like a legitimate excuse. The Captain _always_ kept his cell phone with him-

"Hmm… the one who never gets her work done, you are."

_That_ sure got her attention. "Wh-! What the-! How did you…?"

"Told me, he did." This "Yoda" person was either completely oblivious to how _insanely rare_ it was for the Captain to talk or complain about his day-to-day life (especially to someone he'd just met), or decided to pretend that it was no big deal. "A message for him, do you have?"

"Wait just a second," Rangiku said, still a little suspicious. "You expect me to believe that my Captain just _told_ you about that?"

A light chuckle. "Of course not! Had to pry it out of him, I practically did. Understand, you must, that over seven centuries of experience, I have, with getting young ones to talk about their feelings; and even then, a tough nut to crack he was…"

Rangiku nearly had a heart attack. "_You_ got the Captain to _talk_ about his _feelings_?"

"Eventually," he replied, a touch of humor still in his voice. "For his own safety, it was." His voice turned serious. "Matter in your dimension, emotions may not. But here, very dangerous, certain emotions can be."

"I see…" Rangiku thought hard. "The Captain… said something, about seeing the future." She decided to keep it vague to see if Yoda could fill in the details.

"Mmm. His visions, he was probably referring to."

"Right… I wanted to ask him, about one of his 'visions'."

"The one he told to Hinamori, is it?"

So. Yoda _did_ know about the Captain's visions. "Yes."

"Mmm. Tell her all of the details of that vision, he did not. There for the conversation, I was."

That's exactly what Rangiku had expected. "I'm assuming… he told you, about this vision?"

"Yes. Difficult for him, it was, but eventually able to tell me all of it, he was. Something specific, was there, that wanted to know about, you did, regarding that particular vision?"

"Yes." Rangiku put the phone on speaker so Momo could hear (who was sitting on the sofa next to her). She figured she'd be able to get more information out of Yoda than what she'd be able to get out of her Captain.

"Please, tell me everything you can about that vision."

l***l

"3PO, who are you talking to?" The woman Toshiro had seen in his mind just a few moments ago rounded the corner.

"Oh, well, I was just talking to this young boy here," the droid responded matter-of-factly.

"She can't see me," Toshiro said, forgiving and ignoring its comment on Toshiro's age in light of the droid's ignorance.

The droid turned to him as if in surprise. "What do you mean, 'she can't see you'?"

The woman was clearly thoroughly confused, but remained silent.

"Only Jedi and droids can see or hear me," Toshiro replied, looking around to hopefully find a way to convince this woman that there was, in fact, an invisible person present.

The droid seemed astonished. "Oh! Oh, oh my!" He turned back and forth from Toshiro to the woman. "Oh, dear…"

"3PO, is this some kind of joke?" The woman only showed the slightest amount of impatience.

"No, no, I assure you Master Skywalker, this is no joke-"

"_Skywalker?_"

The droid turned to face him. "Why, yes. This is Master Shmi Skywalker."

Toshiro took another look at the woman. "Does she… know a boy, a Jedi, named Anakin?"

The droid seemed thrilled at the mention of that name. "Oh! Master Anakin! You know Master Anakin! Oh, that is wonderful-!"

A shadow came over Shmi's face. "3PO, I don't have time for this…"

"Ask her for some water," Toshiro said suddenly.

The droid looked at him curiously. "I beg your pardon?"

"Tell her to put a cup of water on that table. Then, if nothing happens to it, you'll stop talking about me."

"Oh, what an excellent idea! Master Skywalker…" The droid followed her into the next room. "Could you place a cup of water on the table? If nothing happens to it, I'll stop talking about our visitor."

She shook her head, doubting. "Alright, fine."

Toshiro walked out to the table and waited. The droid followed him. Soon, Shmi emerged with a small cup of water. She set it on the table and folded her arms. Toshiro picked up the small cup, downed its contents, and set the cup back on the table.

Shmi's eyes were _wide_ open. "Oh my stars…_!_"


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

It took three more cups of water for Toshiro to realize that he'd need more than just water to rehydrate. He needed to get somewhere _cool_. "Is there _anything_ cool or cold around here?" he asked in desperation. "Something I could hold, or stand by…? I do really bad in the heat…"

"He says he needs something cool," the droid translated. "He doesn't do well in the heat."

Shmi was obviously doing her best to be hospitable, while at the same time trying to adjust to the bizarre idea of having an invisible boy in her home. "I think we have an old cooling unit somewhere; let me go check." She poured him another glass of water, then stepped out of the room.

Toshiro drained the cup and wiped the sweat from his forehead. After a few minutes, Shmi returned with a medium-sized box-shaped object (roughly a third of a meter square), and set it on the table. "I'll just turn it on here…" She pressed a few buttons, and the device whirred to life. "Be careful not to touch it," she cautioned as she stepped away.

Had she not said that, Toshiro would've hugged the blessed thing. He moved his body as close to it as possible, sighing with relief as the wave of coolness swept over him. "Aaahhh… thank you…"

"He expresses his gratitude," 3PO said.

Shmi sat across the table from Toshiro. She was quiet for a moment, but her face and body language made it clear that she desperately wanted to say something. "You said… that you know Anakin?"

Toshiro looked up at her, instantly noticing the mixture of hope and pain in her eyes. "Not very well," he replied. "I've met him, but I haven't really spoken to him." He usually preferred to stay out of other people's business, but the pained look on her face struck a curious, sympathetic nerve in him somewhere. "How do you know him?"

That awkward mix of joy and pain became even more apparent in her face after 3PO translated the message. "He's my son," she said through a pained smile, her damp gaze resting on her hands that rested on the table in front of her. "Last year, a Jedi came here and said he was strong in the Force. Anakin had always dreamed of becoming a Jedi, then returning here to free the slaves…" She paused, holding back tears, still smiling. "It was hard for him to leave, but… he made the right choice." She shook her head. "I'm sorry; you… probably didn't need to know that…"

Toshiro didn't respond. For a few seconds, Shmi's face became the face of his granny. His own bittersweet memories of leaving her for the Shinigami Academy started resurfacing…

"How is he? Is he… doing well, do you know?"

Shmi's voice yanked his mind back to the present. "Yeah, he's fine, as far as I can tell." He glanced out of a small, circular window as 3PO translated. Sure enough, there was a huge sandstorm. "Is it okay if I stay here until the sandstorm's over?" he asked.

"Of course," Shmi replied after 3PO relayed the request. "The sandstorms here are terrible; I would never want someone to be stuck outside in one of them. You can stay here as long as you like." She stood up. "Here, I'll show you Anakin's old room. 3PO, could you bring the cooling unit so he stays comfortable?"

"Why, certainly." The droid walked over to the cooling unit, picked it up, and followed Shmi. Toshiro followed 3PO, hovering around the cooling unit like a moth to a flame.

"Here it is," she said. "It's not much, but you're welcome to use it if you'd like."

"Thank you," he replied as he stepped into the small room. "I'd actually like to be alone for awhile, if that's alright…"

"That's fine," she said after 3PO translated. "Just let me, or, 3PO know if you need anything. 3PO, could you set that cooling unit down in here for him?"

"Of course." The droid hobbled over and set the box down right next to the small bed. "Is there anything else we can provide for you, young sir?"

"Just some water," he replied.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Toshiro sat in what used to be that brat Anakin's room, thinking. _Hard_. His genius mind was whirring at far beyond high gear. Now that he had a better idea of what the conditions were, he had to figure out exactly how he was going to defeat this Dooku guy…

_"Want to fight you, Dooku may not,"_ he heard Yoda say. _"Strongly advise you, I would, to not rush into a battle with him."_

Then, Yaddle's words: _"Be able to get some information out of him, you might."_

Inward sigh. What should he _do?_ In Soul Society, this would be much simpler: just _kill_ the guy! But here, they apparently had a lot more value for _any_ form of life, no matter how evil that life was.

_"Toshiro…"_

Toshiro slowly closed, then opened his eyes, sinking into his inner world as he did so. "What is it?" he asked as he gazed up at his zanpakuto.

_"I know how we can defeat him."_

Toshiro lowered his gaze. "I know," he said. "I've figured that out too, but… _that_ technique… well, we'd need to gather _all_ of the water on the planet for it to even have a chance of being effective."

_"…and?"_

"These people… they need that water to _survive_. If we take all of it…"

Hyorinmaru dipped his head in understanding. _"I understand your concern. However, using Hyoten Hyakkaso {Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral} would ultimately leave these people with even more water than they originally had."_

"I know that would usually be the case," Toshiro replied, "but… I'm afraid I'll have to use up most of my reiatsu just getting the temperature down to a level that will allow your abilities to work. The rest would be used up just by performing that technique… there wouldn't be any reiatsu leftover to transform into water." An idea donned on him, spawned from the pacifistic suggestions of Yoda and Yaddle. "Unless…"

_"What?"_

"Hyorinmaru, I want to try using a modified version of Sennen Hyoro {Thousand Years' Ice Prison}."

_"… Modified?"_

"Yes. Something that can detain him without crushing him."

The dragon thought for a moment. _"I see. That should be doable, especially under these conditions."_

"Good." He remembered something else that Hyorinmaru had briefly told him about earlier. "When we spoke earlier, you said that something's… changed, inside of me…?"

Hyorinmaru was silent for an unnerving amount of time.

"…What is it?" Toshiro coaxed. "Do you know what this 'change' is yet?"

_"… I think so."_

Toshiro was starting to get very worried indeed. He'd never seen his zanpakuto act so troubled, and… _sad_… before. "Well?"

_"I don't think now would be a good time to tell you. You need to focus on the battle at hand, and this… would only serve as a distraction. I'm sorry, Master."_

"Don't worry about it," Toshiro replied, knowing full well that his zanpakuto only had his best interests in mind. It was almost… well, _cute_, how faithful and submissive this enormous, powerful dragon was to such a small kid. "I'm going to leave now. I want to practice that telekinesis technique I learned yesterday."

Hyorinmaru nodded in acknowledgement.

Toshiro pulled himself from his inner world. He could still hear the sandstorm raging outside. It didn't sound like it was going to let up anytime soon, either. _Good,_ Toshiro thought. _I'll have some time to practice, in case I end up needing to use telekinesis during the fight._


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

"Thank you so much. I highly doubt I would've been able to get this many details out of my Captain…"

"Welcome, you are. Although, appreciate it I would, if discuss this conversation with him, you did not. Very easy for him it is, to lose trust in someone. Already happened to me once this has. If for that vision it had not been, highly doubt I do, that able to regain his trust, I would have been."

"I see. But… why do you need him to trust you? I know you've already talked to him about his feelings, and that emotions can be dangerous in your dimension and all, but still… why?"

As Yoda was debating whether or not to disclose Toshiro's current location and dangerous predicament to his vice-captain, he felt a slight warning come into his mind. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. He saw _two_ women sitting near an open comlink-like device similar to the one he was holding. "The other girl with you…" he asked carefully, "who is she?"

His sharp ears picked up a slight gasp on the other end of the line. "How did you know there were two of us?"

"Showed me, the Force did." He took a deep breath. "Know yet we do not all of the particulars about how operates in your dimension, the Force does." He chuckled. "As blind as you are concerning this matter, we are."

"That so… Forgive me, but I'm still a little skeptical. If you really saw us, then could you please describe what we look-?"

"Rangiku-san!" This new voice was soft (even in scolding, apparently), sweet, innocent, and definitely female. "My deepest apologies, Yoda-san. My name is-"

"Oi! What are you doing? You can't just give him your name-!"

"Momo Hinamori, are you?"

There was silence on the other end for all of two seconds. "Ye-" Yoda heard something cover her mouth.

"Why does her name matter? If you have something to say about my Captain, then you can say it in front of both of us."

Yoda closed his eyes and reached out with the Force again. "Want to talk to Momo alone, I do not. Worry about me manipulating her, you need not. _You_ it is, that want to speak to alone I do, Rangiku."

"Wha-? Hey! That's not fair! Hitsugaya-kun is my fr-!"

"Wait a minute…" It was quiet on the other end for awhile. Yoda heard someone cover up the mike in an attempt to prevent him from hearing (which didn't work). "Hinamori, could you let me talk to him alone for a little bit?"

"But-!"

"Please. There were some things that the Captain told me that he didn't want you to worry about."

"Wha…?" Her voice grew defiant. "What do you mean? Is Hitsugaya-kun… _keeping_ something from me?"

"It's not like that! He just doesn't want you to worry, that's all."

"But… but that's exactly what Aizen said!" Her tone was now panicked. "He said that he didn't involve me because he didn't want me to worry-!"

"I'm telling you, this isn't like that! My Captain genuinely cares about you! Please, just calm dow- _HEY!_"

"Yoda-san?" Her voice was loud and clear.

"Give that back!" Rangiku's voice sounded like it was coming from across the room.

Yoda sighed heavily. "Remember what Toshiro asked you last night, do you not?" he scolded softly.

l***l

Momo was caught off-guard by Yoda's remark. Toshiro's frightened, desperate voice from the night before came rushing back to her.

_"Hinamori, I need you to know… that I would never, _ever_, hurt you."_

_"I know, Hitsugaya-kun-"_

_"No, no, you don't get it! Momo, this isn't one of those things where you can just say 'I know' and be done with it. You… you really have to _know_ it; you have to know it no matter what else happens, even… even if something happens, that contradicts it…"_

_"Hitsugaya-kun… you… are you saying… that you want me to trust you, the way… the way that I… I trusted… Aizen?"_

_"Don't say it like that! Don't _ever_ compare me to him!"_

_"S-sorry…"_

_"Hinamori, can you… do that? Can you… trust me, like that? …Please?"_

"That's right…" Her eyes closed. "My apologies. Hitsugaya-kun asked me to trust him… Hitsugaya-kun hates Aizen… Hitsugaya-kun… would _never_ hurt me like that…" She swallowed hard. "Very well. I will leave now. Thank you for everything, Yoda-san."

Although it was strange, Yoda's voice was also warm and comforting. "Welcome, you are."

Momo handed the phone back to Rangiku. "Thank you for letting me listen in, Rangiku-san. I… have a lot to think about now…" She made an effort to smile before leaving. "If you'll excuse me."

Rangiku smiled back as Momo stepped out of the room. She then took the phone off of speaker and put it up next to her ear. "She's gone. What did you want to tell me?"

l***l

Dooku sat in the Mos Espa cantina, patiently waiting for the sandstorm to end. He wondered if that _child_ actually had enough sense to get indoors and wait out the storm. Ideally, that boy would be eliminated by this act of nature, and Dooku wouldn't have to lift a finger. Just in case, though, Dooku was busy silently analyzing what information he could gather from his brief encounters with the boy, in preparation for the next confrontation.

Dooku's master had told him about the deep-seeded hatred, fear, and anger in this boy's heart. He'd been right, too; Dooku could _easily_ sense it. In fact, if it weren't for the boy being invisible to non-Force-users, he would make a _magnificent_ Sith lord. He had such power already; add the potency of the Dark Side, and the result would be _terrifying_. It made Dooku shiver to even think about it.

Yoda's influence practically dripped from the boy's presence, though. It was far too obvious that the old, wrinkly, green gnome that had once mentored Dooku had now invested a large amount of time and effort into this boy. Dooku didn't blame him. Such power would undoubtedly be a great threat to the order (and, indeed, the entire galaxy) if its bearer were to fall to the Dark Side.

And then there was the matter of his question. _Who do I work for, hm?_ How, exactly, did this boy know about Dooku having a master? His master had been able to keep himself completely hidden from _Jedi Masters_. How was it possible that this _child_ had discovered what even Master _Yoda_ could not begin to imagine?

Dooku glanced out of the cantina windows. The raging sandstorm had turned the air dark. He wondered how much longer it was going to last.

l***l

_What the heck?_

Toshiro sat on the floor of Anakin's old room, _trying_ to practice telekinesis. He wasn't really getting anywhere, and that frustrated him. He'd been able to lift a book _a few inches_ off of the ground, but that was it (and even _that_ took every ounce of focus and effort he was willing to spare). _This was so much easier on Coruscant…_ he thought. _Is the heat affecting me _this_ much?_ No, that wasn't it. There seemed to be a lack of… _buoyancy_, to the air here…

Then it dawned on him. _Ah, so _that's_ it. There aren't as many spirit particles here. Interesting… so that makes it harder to-_ The roaring of the sandstorm suddenly died. _The heck? Is it finally over?_ There was a knock at the door. "Come in."

C-3PO entered. "Forgive me for intruding, but Master Shmi wanted me to inform you that the sandstorm has passed."

"So… that means it's safe for me to leave, right?" He stood up.

"Yes. I also think you will be pleased to observe that the air temperature has dropped considerably."

Well, _that_ was good (albeit entirely unexpected) news. "Really? Why?"

"The sandstorm has blocked out most of the heat from the two suns for nearly an hour, and it is also around sunset. I do hope you will find the current temperature much more comfortable for your travels."

"That's great news, thanks. I'll go ahead and take my leave now. Please thank Shmi for her hospitality; I probably would've died if I had been stuck outside."

"I most certainly will. Actually, Master Shmi requested to speak with you before you left."

"Oh okay. Where is she?"

"Right this way."

3PO led Toshiro out into the kitchen, where Shmi was busy washing dishes. "Our visitor is ready to leave," the droid announced.

"Oh! Is he still here?"

"Yes, he is standing right beside me."

She did her best to look at him (being invisible kinda made that difficult). "Um, are you planning on going back to Coruscant any time soon?"

"Yes."

"Could you… give Ani a message, for me?"

"Umm… okay, sure." As much as he didn't want to have _any_ reason to talk with that brat, he just couldn't ignore his mother's pleading face. "What do you want me to tell him?"

Shmi started getting teary-eyed again. "Please tell him… that I love him, and that… I'm so proud of him. Tell him not to worry about me. He was always so concerned about me before he left… I just want him to focus on his training, that's all. I don't want him to be distracted by anything, especially not me. Will you… tell him that, for me?"

Toshiro looked at her for a moment, his heartstrings thoroughly tugged. "You remind me of granny," he said quietly. "I'll be sure and tell him. Thank you so much for your hospitality. Goodbye now." He left while 3PO translated the message.

He hopped up onto the roof of the house, then began surveying his surroundings with a trained eye. _Now then… where are you, Dooku?_


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Rangiku closed her cell phone. _So. The Captain's gone off to play hero again, huh? Geez… Why can't he just think about his _own_ safety for once?_ She glanced over at the stack of papers on the office desk. "Aahh, there's so much paperwork…"

Momo's face earlier flashed through her mind. _Hm… I should probably go talk to her… just to be sure she's doing alright…_

l***l

"Able to locate it, were you?"

Yaddle nodded, then opened her eyes. "Like nothing I've ever sensed before, it was. So… _unique_…"

Yoda put the comlink device back into his robes. "Be able to locate it again, would you?"

She looked him in the eye. "Without a doubt."

Yoda smiled. "Good."

l***l

_Hm… the sandstorm has passed._ Dooku drank the last of what was in his cup. _I wonder if that boy survived?_

He didn't have to wait long for an answer. As soon as he finished paying for his drink, he felt the boy's presence dash by just outside the cantina. He smiled a inside. _What convenient timing,_ he thought pompously as he strode out the door in pursuit.

l***l

_That idiot. He's actually following me!_ Toshiro continued to lure Dooku towards the nearby canyon, where he would have the most protection from the heat of the setting suns. He used Shunpo to keep well ahead and out of sight, then let out tiny amounts of reiatsu, just enough so that Dooku would be able to follow his trail.

Although the temperature _had_ dropped a fair amount, it was still just above what he could tolerate. The good news was that he wouldn't have to worry about using up as much reiatsu to lower the temperature. The bad news was that he would still have to use Bankai.

_But __**not**__ Kido,_ he reminded himself. _No matter what, I can't let him know about Kido._

l***l

Dooku followed the trail of the boy's presence into a large canyon. He wondered for a moment if the boy was leading him away intentionally.

That answer came when he hit a dead-end.

"Bankai."

Dooku whipped around to find the boy standing behind him. Streams of blueish-white light rose from his glowing body, swirling around him and cooling the air dramatically. The Force seemed to thicken in the area around the boy, preventing Dooku from moving any closer.

"Daiguren HYORINMARU!"

The light around him exploded; Dooku had to squint. He found himself paralyzed, just as he had been when he'd first seen this boy's ice ability. Thank goodness they were on rock instead of sand; a cold Force wind whipped violently around them, a wind that would've created a mini-sandstorm elsewhere on the planet.

As the light began to fade, Dooku found himself even more dumbstruck than before. First of all, the boy now had _wings_. Granted, they were made of ice, but still. The boy's body was clad in icy armor: claws adorned his hands and feet, while a miniature version of the ice-creature's head appeared to bite the end of the sword in the boy's right hand. Floating above and behind the boy's wings were three purple, four-pointed star-like shapes.

The sky grew dark with clouds, just as it had on Coruscant, though at a noticeably slower rate. Dooku struggled against the wind as the boy raised his sword into the air. A huge, winged version of the ice-creature he'd seen earlier sprang up from behind the boy, its wings nearly scraping the canyon walls.

The boy pointed his blade at Dooku. The ice-creature raced toward him, but didn't crash into Dooku as he'd expected. Instead, the creature flew around Dooku, and before Dooku could register what was happening, the creature had his body firmly trapped in its strong, frozen coils, its head looming over him, ready to chomp down on his warm body at an instant's notice.

Snow began to fall.

"I'll ask you this again," the boy said, wisely keeping his distance. "Who do you work for? Who is this person who's watching me? And I know it's not you, so don't even think about going there."

One of the purple stars disappeared.

It took Dooku a moment to get a hold of himself. He silently cursed himself for not bringing his lightsaber out when he had the chance. He had kept it hidden in Mos Espa in order to prevent drawing unnecessary attention to himself. But that was out of his hands. Now, how to reason with this boy… "My master is someone who is interested in your abilities," he replied coolly, more to buy him time than anything else.

"Obviously. Tell me something I _don't_ know. And be quick." The coils got slightly tighter.

Dooku reached into Toshiro's mind, searching for some insecurity he could toy with… Ah, yes. This would do _beautifully_. "I assume Master Yoda has told you quite a bit about the Republic."

"What about it?"

"I would also assume that he left out how corrupt the Republic is? How many Republic senators are in office more for the wealth and luxury it grants them than for the welfare of the people they represent?"

"So what?"

"The person I work for wishes to do away with that corruption. My master will abolish the Republic and replace it with a new, flawless government."

"And what, exactly, does this have to do with me?"

Dooku knew that he had to be careful here with what he said. "You are in a similar situation, are you not?"

The boy instantly became defensive. _Fear._ "The heck are you talking about? Stay outta my head, dangit!"

_Anger._

"I was never _inside_ of your head. The Force merely showed me how similar your situation is to ours. _Your_ government is corrupt, too. After all…

"…didn't they _murder_ your best friend?"

l***l

_That's it, you fork-tongued jerk-fish,_ Toshiro thought. _Time to die!_

"Hatred."

"… What did you say?"

"You feel it, don't you? The _hatred_ inside you. The anger. The fear. The way it burns within you. The _power_ it gives you."

Toshiro started to feel sick. Something wasn't right. Things felt… all twisted around…

"I know what the Jedi have told you about emotion and the Force. I will tell you now, from _experience_, that you would be better off not listening to that rubbish. It will do nothing but stifle your talent."

Another purple ice-flower disappeared from behind him. _Crap! I don't have much reiatsu left…_ He was glad now that he'd used the stronger version of his normal Shikai attack instead of a modified Sennen Hyoro like he'd planned; that had saved him a _lot_ of reiatsu. "Listen," he said firmly, "just give me your master's name."

Dooku smirked. "If you kill me now, I promise you'll find out."

Normally, Toshiro would've taken this no-good scumbag up on his offer. But something about the way he'd said that made Toshiro squirm. There was something that was just… totally and utterly _sinister_ about this whole situation. Somehow, he knew deep down that he could _not_ kill Dooku after what he'd just said.

But then… what was he supposed to-?

_**RUN!**_

Toshiro had learned to heed these warnings.

l***l

Dooku had to do a double-take. The boy disappeared _again!_ But where t-?

A deafening roar shook the ground, but failed to loosen the iron grip of the ice-creature even in the slightest. Dooku instantly knew he was in danger. He had to get out of thi-!

A canyon krayt dragon took a large bite out of the pillar of ice that stood in front of his cave. In doing so, he impaled a former Jedi Master on his bottom fang.

Mmm. Nothing like a freshly cooled meal.

l***l

Toshiro forced Hyorinmaru to return to normal so he wouldn't be wasting reiatsu. He'd heard the roar, and felt Dooku's reiatsu vanish. Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, he was fairly certain that it wasn't pretty.

He found a small, shaded crevasse in the canyon wall and stopped there for a few minutes. _Now then… how the heck am I supposed to contact Saesee Tiin?_

_You just did. I'm on my way._


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Yoda opened his eyes. Dooku's presence had vanished.

Dooku. His formal pupil. A wise, and highly respected Jedi Master.

A Sith apprentice.

Yoda took a moment to grieve. Living through the deaths of countless Jedi in centuries past didn't make each new death any easier. And then Dooku had gone and turned to the Dark Side on top of it all…

He was so tired of death. Tired of being forced to watch so many Jedi make the same painful mistakes over and over and over again. So many of those mistakes were ones that he'd made himself. Most of the lessons he taught now were ones he'd learned the hard way; there was a _very_ good reason behind the _six hundred years_ it had taken him to get offered a seat on the Jedi Council.

Such was the curse of a long life.

Toshiro and Tiin were no doubt on their way back to Coruscant by now. Yoda couldn't be sure, but he knew that there was a _very_ good chance that Toshiro had gotten his first whiff of the Dark Side while he was in Dooku's company.

That urgency to train Toshiro tugged at Yoda's soul. He needed to prepare Toshiro for the greatest temptation the Dark Side could offer.

And he needed to do it _now_.

l***l

Toshiro waited for the cockpit to open completely before hoping out. Tiin had kept a few more bottles of water stowed away for the return trip; Toshiro was _very_ grateful for that.

"Speak with you now, I must, Toshiro."

Toshiro had seen Yoda waiting for them in his hover chair as they'd flown into the hangar. The green gnome's face told him that he knew Dooku was dead. "I'm not sure what happened," Toshiro said. "I think something else attacked him, like a wild animal-"

"Matter now, that does not. Speak with you, I must."

_Oh._ So it was urgent. "Okay… I have to tell Anakin something, first."

Yoda's ears raised.

"It's a message from his mom."

Yoda frowned. "The message, what is?"

Toshiro told him.

Yoda gazed at Toshiro in thought for a moment. "Very well. This way." He turned and hovered away.

Toshiro followed, nearly having to trot just to keep up. Soon they arrived at a cluster of what looked like sparring rooms. In the largest one stood Anakin and a few other kids. The doors opened automatically as Yoda approached, and closed after Toshiro passed through them.

"It's not fair!" one of the kids griped. "You _can't_ be this good! You've only been here a _year!_ How come you're so much better than the rest of us?"

Anakin had a pride-filled smirk on his face. He shrugged. "Hey, it's not _my_ fault I'm the Chosen One."

Toshiro lurched to a halt. _Oh_ no. He did _not_ just hear that little brat say what he thought he said.

"You just watch; I'm gonna be the greatest Jedi ever!"

Toshiro felt like hurling. This kid couldn't be serious. Did he even know what the crap he was _saying?_

"Full of pride, his heart is," Yoda muttered. "Too hungry for power, he is."

Toshiro glared at Anakin (who hadn't noticed either of them yet). Boy, he wished he could give that arrogant brat a taste of reality…

He blinked, then looked at Yoda, realizing that his thoughts had probably been heard. To his surprise, Yoda was looking right back at him. He gave Toshiro a firm nod.

That was the go-ahead.

Toshiro looked back at Anakin. "You think you're all that, huh?" he said as he stepped forward, his arms crossed in front of him.

Anakin spun around and scowled at Toshiro. "I _am_ the Chosen One!" he said, as if Toshiro had accused him of being otherwise.

"That so?" Toshiro stopped a few meters away from him, glaring into his eyes. "Fight me, then."

Anakin's eyes grew wide, then narrowed, like he was considering Toshiro's offer. The rest of the bunch donned their "oh crap" faces.

It stung somewhere deep inside Toshiro to see how afraid of him they were. It was just like those other kids, back in Rukongai…

"I won't do anything fancy," he continued, "just swordplay. Well, a little hand-to-hand, maybe. But that's it."

Anakin's smirk started to remerge. "Promise?"

_Oh, dear gosh… how immature can he get?_ "Yes, as long as you stick to the same rules."

Anakin grinned. "You're on!"

Toshiro pulled Hyorinmaru out of its sheath. "Ready when you are."

Anakin hit the ignition button on his lightsaber. The blade glowed blue. He waited for the other kids to get out of the way, his eyes fixed on Toshiro.

He lunged.

Toshiro blocked with next to no effort. _Yawn._ He parried, the kicked Anakin away. Anakin lunged at him again, and he dodged. This pattern repeated several times, Anakin growing more and more frustrated with each failed attack. Toshiro was toying with him on purpose; he wanted the power gap between them to be _deeply_ entrenched into this kid's brain.

Finally, he knocked Anakin's lightsaber out of his hand, grabbed his arm, and twisted it around to his back, slamming his face onto the hard floor.

_**"OOOOOOWWWWWW!"**_

"What?"

Anakin's voice was somewhat muffled. "You jyernk! You brohke my nose!"

_Oh my __**gosh,**__ what a pansy!_ "That all? You're crying over your _nose_ being broken? _I've_ nearly had _limbs_ cut off!" He put a little pressure on Anakin's arm. "_Listen_, brat. You don't have a _clue_ what it means to have power. You're flappin' your jaw like you know everything that being 'the greatest Jedi ever' entails. Well, here's your wake-up call: it's _hard_. It _sucks_. Having power, being in a position of power, they both mean _loads_ of responsibility. The more powerful you are, the greater danger you'll be in your _entire life_. That means there will be more chances for you to slip up and get yourself _killed_. You basically become responsible for _everyone_ weaker than you. Their lives and well-being get dumped right into your lap. You can't go off and do your own thing half the time, because you'll be too busy helping out or protecting someone else. And all that fame and respect you supposedly get? Totally dependent on your attitude. Sure, you can become a Jedi Master or a Council Member or whatever, but if you've got a bad attitude, then _no one_ will respect you. And right now, you're attitude doesn't just stink; it _reeks_."

He stood there for a second, then let go of Anakin's arm and stepped to the side. "By the way," he said as he put Hyorinmaru back in its sheath, "I met your mom on Tatooine. She said she loves you, she's proud of you, and she wants you to focus on your training. She doesn't want you to worry about her. Thoughts of her will distract you, and she doesn't want that. She's fine; she wants you to do your best." He walked to and through the door without another word.

Yoda followed him out (after telling the other kids to call a medic). "So… what was it you needed to talk with me about?" Toshiro asked.

"Learn soon, you will." His voice was heavy, like it had been last night after Toshiro's dream about Aizen. "Come."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Toshiro followed Yoda into his quarters. "How long is this going to take?"

Yoda hovered around the perimeter of the room, closing the blinds as he did so.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything; I just really wanted to get back to that mind-training."

Yoda finished closing the blinds, then turned and gazed at Toshiro with a look that was almost mournful. "Part of your training, this _is_," he said as he slid off of his hover chair.

Toshiro blinked. "Oh… Um, okay…"

"Your zanpakuto, leave by the window, and sit."

Toshiro did as he was told. Yoda sat across from him, his eyes closed. The atmosphere in the room felt _much_ different with the blinds completely closed like this…

"When on Tatooine, you were," Yoda said, opening his eyes and looking directly into Toshiro's, "feel the influence of the Dark Side at _any_ time, did you?"

Toshiro thought for a moment. "I think so. While I was fighting Dooku, he… got into my head, somehow. He mentioned some things, to get me angry, I guess. Then he started to… _encourage_ that anger, saying that it would give me power…" His muscles tensed at the memory. "I felt so… _wrong_. It was like this, _blackness_, just started to… _invade_ me, or something. It was weird."

"Afraid, you were." Yoda's voice was soft, and his eyes were closed again.

"Well… yeah, I, guess I was. I'd never felt that before."

Yoda looked at him. His gaze was calm, yet piercing. "The Dark Side, that was. Feeds off of your anger, fear, hatred, and other such emotions, it does. The stronger those emotions, you feel, the more the Dark Side will grow within you. That is why ever vigilant, you must be, to guard yourself against such emotions."

Toshiro nodded. Yoda's words made perfect sense. "Right."

"Toshiro."

"Hm?"

"Know the difference, do you, between protecting and avenging someone?"

Yet another completely unexpected question. "Um, yeah. Why?"

"If know the difference, you do, then answer me this: when attacked Gin, you did, _protecting_ Momo, or _avenging_ her, were you?"

Toshiro's muscles tensed up even more. He could feel himself starting to get angry. How _dare_ Yoda bring Momo up like this! What was he implying, anyway? But, recalling Yoda's words just a few seconds ago about the Dark Side, Toshiro took a couple deep breaths, hoping to calm himself. It didn't help much. "I guess…" He thought hard about that incident. Why _had_ he attacked Ichimaru? At the time, he felt like he was _protecting_ Momo. After all, he'd been certain that it was Ichimaru who'd written that despicable letter and made her bleed. He'd even given Ichimaru fair warning. But… but…

Ichimaru _hadn't_ forged that letter.

And Toshiro had _still_ attacked him.

The more Toshiro thought about it, the more painfully obvious it became that he had actually been _avenging_ Momo. What's more, he'd ended up putting her directly into harm's way because of it. If Rangiku hadn't been there… "I guess… I was avenging her," he said finally.

There was silence for awhile. Thick, heavy silence. "So," Yoda said finally, "if _avenging_ her, you were, then _protecting_ her, you could not possibly have been."

Toshiro glared at Yoda, his fists clenched. "What are you-?"

Yoda pointed his cane at Toshiro, the end of it only a few centimeters from the tip of his nose. "If _protecting_ her, you had been," he said, gazing at Toshiro with intense eyes, "then more concerned about her _safety_, you would have been, than killing the one who harmed her."

Toshiro's fists clenched even tighter. His gaze dropped to the floor. Once again, he knew that Yoda was right. He didn't _want_ Yoda to be right, but Yoda was right regardless. Toshiro felt himself starting to get angry again; this time, he was angry at himself. How could he have been so _stupid?_ Momo had been lying _right there!_ What if she'd been caught in Hyorinmaru's ice? What if Rangiku hadn't been there to block Ichimaru's blade? His eyes shut tight. He was furious at himself. How could he have _missed_ that? Something so simple… And there he had been, lecturing Momo on how she should be thinking through things logically instead of letting her emotions take control…

"A good thing it is, that see your mistakes, you do," Yoda said, his voice more comforting than before. "However, angry at yourself, you need not be. Taught to guard yourself against these emotions, you have not been. Your fault, that is not. Learn everything you can from your mistakes, you should, but dwell on them, do not. In the past, they are; changed, they cannot be."

Although Yoda's words were comforting, Toshiro could still feel tears of anger and self-hatred welling up in his eyes. It was all his fault. If he hadn't been so bent on killing Ichimaru, then maybe… maybe… "But… how do I stop myself… from doing that again? Whenever someone hurts Hinamori, I… just get so angry… I want them dead, for hurting her…" He put his face in his hands, his fingertips flexed against his forehead. "How do I stop myself… from feeling like that…? I… don't want to put her in danger…"

"If want to prevent something, you do, first understand what causes it, you must." Yoda's voice was now overflowing with warmth and support. "Understandable and natural, it is, that feel anger at someone who harmed a loved one, you do. Why _so_ angry and vengeful you become, the _real_ question is."

Toshiro wiped his eyes, then returned his face to his hands. So, he had to figure out _why_ he got so angry at those who hurt Momo, huh? _That_ was sure easier said than done. He knew that he loved her, that he wanted to protect her, but… was there something else? He racked his brain for awhile, struggling to figure out what it could possibly be that made him so enraged…

"A suggestion, can I make?"

Yoda might as well have offered him an infinite supply of ice-water after spending a month on Tatooine. "Yes, _please_."

"Want to protect Momo, you do."

"Yes."

"So, when harms her, someone does, feel like a failure, you do."

Toshiro's eyes shot open, and his face lifted to stare at Yoda. That was _not_ what he'd been expecting.

"Want to blame yourself for the harm done to her, you do not; too unbearable for you, that is. So, put that blame on whoever hurt her, you do. The anger you feel at yourself for not protecting her, channeled to the person who harmed her, it is. Magnified by that, your anger is, until hatred and rage, it becomes."

Toshiro stared at his hands. Was _that_ what happened? Was that _really_ why he got so angry? It made sense. It felt right. But… "If that really is why I get so angry… then… how can I protect her, and still not feel that way? How…" His fists clenched again. "How can I _not_ feel like a failure, if she gets hurt?"

"By realizing and accepting that perfect, you are not."

…_Woah._ Back up. _What_ did Yoda just say?

"Make mistakes, everyone does. Influenced, each of our lives are, by circumstances beyond our control. If angry at ourselves we become for every mistake we make, and if continue to dwell on that anger, we do, then miserable, our lives will be. Learn to forgive ourselves and let go of the past, we must. Only then, peace, can we find."

Toshiro was dumbstruck. No one, _no one_, had _ever_ not only flat out told him that he wasn't perfect, but that it was _okay_ to not be perfect. Whenever he made a mistake as a captain (which was a _very_ rare occurrence), the Captain-Commander (and, on occasion, a couple of the other captains) would sharply reprimand him. When he'd been in the Shinigami Academy… well, he'd been so darned gifted that he hadn't _made_ any mistakes. He was the Genius. The Child Prodigy. The youngest captain in the _history of Soul Society_. Everyone, _everyone_, expected nothing short of perfection from him.

And, as a result, he had come to expect perfection from himself. _Especially_ when it came to protecting Momo. After all, she _was_ the whole reason he'd trained so hard for so long. If nothing else, he wanted to protect her. _That_ was what his power was for. Her safety was his first priority. Even his rank of captain would be tossed aside without so much as a thought if it meant keeping her safe.

But… was it _really_ his high expectations that were causing him to get so angry, angry enough that he'd even forget about Momo's safety? At first glance, it seemed like a bit of a stretch. But, on the other hand-

His thoughts were interrupted by musical chimes.

"Lunch time, it is." Yoda, who's eyes had once again been closed, opened them to look up at Toshiro. "Like to eat in here, would you?" His voice was so quiet, so gentle…

This gnome never ceased to amaze him. It was strange, being around someone who could read his every thought and feeling, all the time. He nodded, realizing that he'd need some time alone. "Yeah. That'd be really nice."

Yoda slid off of the cushion. "Be here soon, your food will. A youngling class after lunch, I have. If need anything, you do, find and speak to Yaddle, you can."

"All right. Thank you."

Yoda sat in his hover chair and turned it on. "Welcome, you are." He gave Toshiro a small nod and a little, hope-inspiring smile before leaving the room.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Toshiro stared at what was now an empty tray of food. A droid had brought it by earlier. He hoped Yoda wouldn't mind if he left it on the floor for now.

He had some hard-core thinking to do.

First, he established the basis of this whole thing: _he loved Momo._ He loved her _so_ much that he'd dedicated the entirety of his power to protecting her. _That_ was his mission. _That_ was his _purpose_.

It occurred to him that he'd never really focused on that one basic thing before. Heck, he wasn't even sure that he'd fully admitted that simple fact to _himself_ until a couple days ago. Maybe he'd just been afraid of losing her, like he had granny and Kusaka, and so kept his distance as much as possible. Besides…

…well, it wasn't like she showed any real interest in him. Other than the "you're like a little brother" variety. He knew his cold, often harsh personality didn't exactly fit her warm, caring ideal man. It wasn't that he wasn't a caring person; it was just that he showed it in a different way.

Like, say, dedicating the _entirety of his life and power_ to protecting Momo.

So that was that. He loved Momo. Moving on.

He thought back to that incident with Ichimaru. By Soul Society's standards, he'd had _every_ right to attack Ichimaru. He'd had good, solid evidence that Ichimaru was the mastermind, and he'd even warned Ichimaru of the consequences of hurting Momo ahead of time. In retrospect, however (and with the help of Yoda's earlier insightful comments), Toshiro could see that even _then_, attacking Ichimaru had been the wrong thing to do. Toshiro had been so angry that he'd forgotten the one thing that was most important to him: _Momo's safety_. He was too eager to place the blame on someone else and be rid of that person to really stop and think about the whole situation.

And, as a consequence, Momo had nearly been _killed_.

He was about to go off on another self-hating inner-rant, but forced himself to stop and be more analytical. _Think, dangit!_ He took a deep breath, which helped a little. _So I attacked Ichimaru. I was angry. I hated him. I wanted him dead. And… it was because… I was angry at… myself…? For not… protecting her…?_ It still seemed like a stretch…

Flashes of his rage after Aizen stabbed Momo suddenly started sweeping through his mind. The nightmarish vision where Aizen tricked him into killing Momo seemed to accompany them. A realization hit him, **hard**. _He… Aizen… he knew… he __**knows**__…_ Toshiro blinked. His fists clenched. _He __**knew**__ I'd attack him! He __**knows**__ how protective of her I am! He knows… how angry I get… when she gets hurt… __**curse**__ him, that no-good son-of-a-brick! He __**manipulated**__ me!_

His mind was guided back to the peaceful experience he'd had that morning, where his path had been practically laid out in front of him. He _got_ it now. He knew what he was supposed to do. _I can't let Aizen – or anyone else – manipulate me like that again,_ he thought.

_That's all there is to it._

l***l

Chancellor Palpatine once again sat behind his desk, thinking.

So. His apprentice had failed.

True, Dooku's wealth had been rather helpful in moving the Sith Lord's plans along smoothly. But that was no longer an issue. No, Sidious had _much_ bigger plans; not only for the future of the Republic, but for the future of the entire galaxy.

And all of those plans rested on one, white-haired little boy.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Yaddle was just returning to the Archives from a trip to the refresher when she felt the air around her grow cool for no apparent reason. She looked up and smiled. "Hello, Toshiro."

"Forgive me for being so abrupt," he apologized, "but I _really_ need to continue that mind training now. Do you know where Yarael is?"

Yaddle took a second or two to examine Toshiro's presence. It radiated humility, calm, and a profound sense of peaceful resolve, even more so than it had this morning. "Free at this time, he should be," she replied. "Call him, I will." She pulled her comlink out of her outer robe, then started walking towards the same room they had attempted the mind training in before, motioning for Toshiro to follow her.

l***l

"Are you ready?"

Toshiro nodded, his eyes closed as he sat meditating on the floor. He was _much_ more prepared for this than he had been the first time. Before, he'd just been doing this training to give him an edge in battle.

Now, he was doing it for Momo.

Once again, he felt Yarael's reiatsu reach out to him. _I'm doing this for Momo,_ he thought as he felt Yarael's presence lightly touch his mind. _I'm doing this to protect her._

He felt the "fingers" of Yarael's reiatsu slide slightly deeper into his mind. It was taking every ounce of concentration and trust to keep his mind from recoiling. Having someone else's reiatsu _inside of his mind_ was hands-down the most uncomfortable thing he'd ever experienced. But he was determined. He _had_ to do this. Ultimately, it was for Momo's safety; nothing else mattered in that light.

Toshiro was actually very surprised at how quickly Yarael was able to gather the information he needed. "You'll need to keep meditating for a few minutes after I leave," he heard Yarael's voice say (he wasn't quite sure if it was in his mind or not), "otherwise your mind will go into shock. I'll let you know when it's safe to stop meditating."

Toshiro meditated for about five minutes after Yarael's reiatsu left his mind before he heard Yarael tell him that he could come out. "Well, Toshiro, I have some very good news."

Toshiro's eyes lit up. "Really? What is it?"

"There is one sense of yours that the Complete Hypnosis does not control."

Whoa. Yeah, that was pretty big news.

"This ability of yours to sense others' 'reiatsu' is not affected by the hypnosis at all."

…never mind. "I already knew that," Toshiro said, obviously disappointed.

"Which means," Yarael continued, "that you can use it as an anchor for your other senses."

Toshiro blinked. "Huh?"

"When a person loses one of his senses, all of his other senses become much more acute over time in order to accommodate for the sense that was lost. For example, people who lose their sight learn to use their ears and sense of touch to 'see' the world around them. People who lose their hearing learn to better observe their world visually. Because you are aware that you will not be able to rely on all but one of your senses, the key to overriding the hypnosis lies in relying solely on the one sense that you know you can trust. And, once you use that sense to get a handle on what reality is, then (with the proper training) you might be able to force your other senses to follow suit for a time."

"Really?" That _was_ good news. "In that case, how soon can we start?"

"Want to take a break first, do you?" Yaddle asked, concern in her voice.

"Thanks, but no. I don't know why, but… I need to learn this as soon as possible."

Yarael nodded. "Very well. Master Yaddle, could you accompany us to the Masters' Practice room?"

"Certainly."

l***l

"Hina~mori," Rangiku said as she stepped into the fifth squad administrative office. "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Ah, Rangiku-san! Well… there's a lot of backed-up paperwork, so… I thought I'd catch up a little on some of it before I went back to bed…"

"You've been here for hours! Gee-whiz, you're almost as bad as my Captain! All work and no play; it's just not healthy!" She plopped on the couch.

Momo seemed surprised. "What do you mean, 'all work and no play'? Hitsugaya-kun goes out and has fun every so often, doesn't he?"

"Not that I've seen. He's either doing paperwork, training, sleeping, or on a mission somewhere. I just don't see how he can stand it!"

Momo's eyes lowered. "That's strange… when he was younger, he'd always complain that he didn't want to go to the Shinigami Academy because he thought it'd be boring…"

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah. He's… really changed since then." Her eyes grew soft and reminiscent. "He acts so grown-up now. He has so much responsibility… It's almost like he's forgotten how to _be_ a kid. I mean, he still teases me sometimes, but… it's not nearly like it used to be. I… kinda miss those days… when life was happy, simple, peaceful…" Her voice trailed off.

Rangiku sighed. "You know… you're the only person he really smiles around?"

Momo looked at her. "Huh? What are you-?"

"He doesn't tease anyone else, either."

Momo smiled and sighed. "That's just because we've known each other for so long. We grew up in the same neighborhood, remember?"

"That's true, but… well, I've known him for a really long time now, and he's never teased me even _once_."

Momo giggled. "That's because you're his Vice-captain!"

"That has nothing to do with it!" She sat up, a playfully serious look on her face. "If he became _your_ Captain, do you seriously think he'd stop teasing _you_, just because you were his Vice-captain?"

Momo stared at her. "If Hitsugaya-kun… was my Captain…?" She blinked. That possibility had never occurred to her. For a few seconds, she imagined what it would be like, to have her childhood friend filling the role that Aizen had played just a few short months ago: watching him walk into the office every day; turning her reports in to him; taking orders from him on the battle field; going to him when she was worried and couldn't sleep at night. It felt strange, but… familiar…

A hell butterfly flew in through the open window. Rangiku held out her finger. "The special army that has been organized to battle Aizen is about to deploy to the Real World," she repeated aloud to Momo. "Another army will be sent to Hueco Mundo to aid the battle there. Regular updates on the both battles will be sent whenever possible." The butterfly fluttered away.

"Hey, Rangiku-san…"

"What?"

"…don't you think it's strange? We've been ordered to stay here, but… Hitsugaya-kun… saw me, in that vision he had…" She looked up at her fellow Vice-captain. "What do you think that means…?"

Rangiku thought for a moment. "I don't know. I guess it means we have to be careful. We can't really do much else besides wait, and be on our toes. Now, you go and rest! You can worry about all this when you're better."

Momo put the pages down. "You're right. Hey… can I join you for dinner again tonight?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you." Momo stood up. "I'll see you then."

"Have a good rest!" Rangiku called as Momo stepped out of the room.

* * *

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's reading & reviewing this, I really appreciate the support! ^_^ I may not reply to very many of the reviews, but I do read & appreciate all of them. :)

~Alassë


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Toshiro closed his eyes. He shut out the bone-chilling screeches echoing in his ears, and ignored the warm, damp, utterly foul breath on his face. He remained perfectly still. Even when he felt a large, reptilian hand clamp around him and lift him high in the air.

After all, this was just an illusion. Vivid as all get-out, but still an illusion.

He cleared his mind, allowing his reiatsu to seep out into the world around him. Yaddle's reiatsu was approaching him from behind. He forced his body to turn and attempt to block her attack (he could only _attempt_ to block it because he couldn't track where her lightsaber was), in spite of the nerve endings on his arms _insisting_ that they were pinned to his body. He had to be careful to make sure that he didn't put too much force behind his movements, as he would've had to if he were _really_ trapped. His sense of touch was definitely the hardest to ignore.

But he was getting the hang of it.

_Well done,_ he heard Yarael's voice say in his mind. _It seems like you've become accustomed to relying on your reiatsu-sensing ability. Now, let's work on getting your other senses to follow suit._

Toshiro had no idea how much time had passed since they'd started this training. He felt like he'd been doing this for months. In all of the training he'd done, in all the hours he'd spent developing his skills, he never, _ever_ recalled being _this focused_.

_This is what I want you to do,_ Yarael's voice said. _This time, once you get a handle on reality via your reiatsu-sensing ability, I want you to concentrate as hard as you can on the what you know is reality. Then, imagine the image, sounds, smells, and feels of reality spreading from your reiatsu-sensing ability to the rest of your senses._

"Got it."

The scene around him changed. He was in a grassy meadow out in the middle of nowhere. Sun was shining. There was a gentle breeze.

"Hitsugaya-kun?"

His eyes shot open. _Wha-?_ He turned. "…Hinamori…? How the…?"

_I don't have to know what she looks like to show her to you. You know what she looks like; that is enough._

His fists started to clench, but he took several deep breaths to calm himself. "Why are you even showing her to me in the first place?"

_Her image provokes strong emotions in you. If you want to force your other senses to fall in line with your reiatsu-sensing ability, then you need to learn to ignore your emotions, as well._

"…Fair enough."

"What are you doing here, Hitsugaya-kun?"

He closed his eyes. _It's just an illusion. I… have to ignore her- no, it's not her. It's just an illusion._

"Hitsugaya-kun?" He felt her (or, the illusion of her, rather) touch his forehead.

It was taking all of his self-control to ignore the super-realistic illusion of her. He focused hard on sensing Yaddle's reiatsu, doing his best to ignore everything else.

He almost broke concentration for a second. _What the… that's not Yaddle… that's…_ "…Yoda?" he asked.

_Very good. Now, try to get your other senses to follow suit._

"Right…" He concentrated hard on the reiatsu he felt. He could actually feel a little bit of Yaddle's reiatsu nearby, but Yoda's was closer and stronger. He remembered how they looked, and concentrated on that image. Then, almost out of habit, he started letting his reiatsu disperse into the spirit particles around him; meditating, essentially. He focused on the reality that the reiatsu levels in the room were telling him-

He felt a soft, delicate fingertip touch his lips. "Shirou-chan…?"

He squirmed, blushing, struggling to concentrate. _It's just an illusion, it's just an illusion, it's just an illusion, it's just an illusion…_

He felt her lips touch his. He blushed even more. _Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, ignore it!_ He clenched his fists tighter, every drop of energy focused on getting his other senses in touch with reality…

l***l

Yoda watched Toshiro squirm. He'd figured out the basics of what the boy was seeing based on Toshiro's comments and reactions. Yoda sighed. "Yarael, something different, show him. Too much for him right now, this is."

l***l

He heard something.

Yoda's voice.

He could feel her non-existent tongue pressing on his lips, but he ignored it. _Focus on Yoda's voice… what is he saying…?_

Very, very softly, like an echo of a distant sound, he heard these words: "…Too much for him right now, this is."

"What's too much?" he asked.

l***l

Yoda blinked. "…Hear me, you can?"

"…Barely. Your voice is really quiet…"

"Want me to keep speaking, do you?"

"Yeah, that would help a lot… gives me something to focus on…"

l***l

It took a couple more minutes, but eventually Toshiro got to a place where Yoda's voice was loud and clear. He couldn't really feel Momo (or the illusion of Momo) anymore. "I'm going to open my eyes now," he said. "I think I've got it…"

He opened his eyes. Sure enough, there was Yoda, and Yaddle standing not too far away. Yoda was beaming at him. "Well done," he said.

The door to the training room suddenly opened. Master Windu walked in. "Forgive me if I'm interrupting anything, but the Chancellor just called. He wants to speak to the Council right away."

Yoda nodded, then turned to Toshiro. "Stay here and practice telekinesis, you can-" He paused, as if hit by inspiration. "…No. Come with us, you should."

"Okay…" Toshiro followed them to the Council Chamber.

* * *

Guess what? This fanfic has its very first piece of fanart, done by the wonderfully amazing **earlybird-obi-wan**! YAY! Fanart here: http: //i279. photobucket. com/albums/kk124/earlybird-obi-wan/forcenetart/toshiro. jpg [remove the spaces; there's one after the colon & one after each period :) ]

If any of the rest of you feel inspired to do fanart, please let me know & show me what you've done! :D (I actually requested this lovely piece of fanart, but still. ^_^)


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Toshiro followed the four Jedi Masters up the elevator (or "lift" as they called it) that led to the High Council Chamber. When the doors opened, Toshiro was surprised to see something _other_ than the High Council Chamber. "Wh-"

"The Operations Planning Center this is," Yoda said quietly as he slid off his hover chair. He placed a hand on Toshiro's leg. "Wait here," he said, again acting as if by instinct.

Toshiro nodded, then stepped to the side of the doorway so the other Council members could enter. He wasn't certain, but he could make a pretty good guess that Yoda was receiving and following warnings from "the Force".

The Council gathered around the large blue hanging globe-like structure in the center of the room. The elevator door closed. This room was surprisingly… _black_, especially compared to the open, lighted, soothing tones that appeared throughout the rest of the Temple. "I'm calling the Chancellor now," Master Windu said as he tapped a few spots on what was apparently a control board of some sort. The two-story-tall globe flickered a bit.

Aizen's face appeared.

Toshiro's heart stopped. His eyes were as big around as dinner plates. _Wh…w-what the-!_

_**Aizen…**_

He blinked. Aizen's face vanished. In its place was the face of an older man, who, in all honesty, looked absolutely _nothing_ like Aizen.

_**Aizen…**_

Toshiro blinked again. The Jedi Council turned into his fellow Captains.

_**Aizen…**_

He blinked again. They went back to normal.

_**Aizen… Aizen…**_

His heart started pounding as a cold sweat broke out on his skin. Flashes of death, pain, destruction, and despair bombarded his mind. Some scenes were of Soul Society, of the horrors that Aizen had caused. Others were of this dimension, showing droids battling Jedi, intermingled with scenes of bloodshed and carnage on a massive scale.

And, like a sledgehammer beating on the inside of his skull, that same name repeated, over and over and over again: _**Aizen… Aizen… Aizen…**_

This cycle repeated for the duration of the conversation. Toshiro hadn't the foggiest idea what was actually being said or discussed. All he knew was that some way, somehow, the man that the Council was talking to was the same as the one person Toshiro hated above everyone else, the one person who had managed to deceive _all_ of Soul Society for over a _hundred years_, only to reveal his true power too late to be stopped.

This man was going to do the _exact same thing._

And the Jedi _could not_ see it.

Finally, the man's image vanished. The flashes stopped, and the throbbing name fell to a whisper.

"Are you alright?"

Toshiro nodded unconvincingly at the weird-hat lady. For the first time, he noticed that he had pinned himself to the wall. He took a small step forward.

"Tens of thousands of times have I seen that face," Yoda said tersely as he hobbled over to Toshiro. He looked the Shinigami directly in the eyes. "What see, did you?"

Toshiro glanced back at the globe, unsure of what to say.

"If it's about the Chancellor, then we need to know as soon as possible," Master Windu said.

Toshiro's fingertips curled. "That man… is the Chancellor?"

"Yes."

"The one who's leading the Republic?"

"Yes."

Toshiro took a deep breath and swallowed. He hesitated, still unsure of how exactly to say it-

"Toshiro."

Yoda's voice yanked his mind back to the present. "Hn?"

The little gnome's eyes pierced his, and Toshiro could almost see a kind of fire burning in them. "What see, did you?"

Toshiro looked back at the globe. He swallowed again, then took another deep breath.

"…_Aizen_."

He didn't have to see Yoda, Yarael, and Yaddle's faces to know that they had donned expressions of pure shock.

"When that man's face first appeared, I didn't see _him_. I saw _Aizen_. I blinked, and his face turned to normal. Then I saw you guys turn into the Captains of the Gotei 13, then back to yourselves. Then… I saw… a vision, I think… there were flashes of what was happening in Soul Society, and flashes of what _that man_ is going to cause here; wars, bloodshed, innocent people killed… and, I kept hearing Aizen's name over and over in my head, just this, pounding sensation; 'Aizen, Aizen, Aizen' over and over again…"

If it wasn't for the low electronic hum in the room, you could've heard a _feather_ drop.

"…Who's Aizen?" the weird-hat lady asked.

Yoda hobbled away, deep in thought.

"Aizen was a well-loved, highly respected Captain of the Gotei 13," Toshiro replied. "He betrayed Soul Society a few months ago, and has been creating an army to fight against the Gotei 13 ever since. As far as we know, he plans to create a King's Key so he can assassinate Soul Society's king, and he has to destroy an entire city in the Living World in order to do so."

"Are you saying that the _Chancellor_ is going to betray the _Republic_?" Master Windu asked.

Toshiro stared at the globe, the flashes of violence replaying themselves in his mind. "…Yes." He was about to say something else, when he felt Yoda's reiatsu brush up against him. He turned. Yoda was sitting cross-legged on the floor apart from the rest of the group, apparently meditating.

_"Unusual, it is not, for a Jedi to see glimpses of the future, while meditating, he or she is."_

_That must be what he's doing,_ Toshiro thought. _He must be trying to look into the future, to verify what I saw…_

The rest of the Council, who had all noticed the Grand Master's behavior by now, waited patiently for the old being to complete his meditation. They hid their emotions well, but Toshiro could definitely see more concern in Yaddle, Yarael, and Tiin's faces.

After a few moments, Yoda opened his eyes. "…Blind, we all have been."


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Toshiro and Master Windu were the only ones standing. Master Windu was pacing behind his chair. The Council had migrated up to the High Council Chamber to discuss this matter further.

"If the Chancellor really is a Sith, then we'll have to arrest him and put him on trial," Master Windu said. "Although, it will be difficult to find any sort of substantial evidence against him…"

"Are you _serious_?" Toshiro was beyond frustrated. "Put him _on trial_ with the _same people_ who elected him, with _no_ evidence to back up your claim? That doesn't make _any_ sense."

Master Windu almost glared at him. "Do you have any _other_ suggestions?" he asked.

Toshiro thought for a moment. "The only solution I can see to this… is to get rid of him now, when he's not expecting it."

"You mean kill him?"

Toshiro nodded. "Exactly."

"I can't see how that would work. If one of us were to kill the Chancellor, the entire Republic would turn against us. The public's trust in the Jedi Order is already beginning to teeter as it is."

Toshiro twitched. He could tell that Master Windu's last comment was alluding to the ice incident.

_Calm yourself._

Toshiro blinked at Yoda's quiet, telepathic suggestion. He glanced at the old Jedi, then took a deep breath.

"…I'll go."

All eyes rested on him, with expressions ranging from surprise, to deep concern, to skepticism.

"…_What_?" he retorted. "It makes the most sense, since no one with low spirit-power can see me. I can mask my reiatsu, follow him until he produces some evidence, kill him, and leave the evidence out to be found when you guys investigate the scene."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence. Yoda and Master Windu exchanged knowing glances.

"It's a good plan, I'd say." Toshiro turned to see that a large snake-like creature with a long white beard was the one who had spoken. "True, the public may be slightly upset at the Order when we won't be able to explain everything again, but I think they'll be even more outraged by the fact that a Sith lord was running the republic, and that should soften any criticism they'll have of the Order."

Yoda sighed. "Dangerous, it will be," he said quietly, his gaze lifting to match Toshiro's.

"You think I don't know that?" Toshiro replied. "Look, part of being a Captain of the Gotei 13 is accepting the fact that all of the most dangerous assignments will fall to you. You go into each battle knowing that there is a good chance of you getting killed. It doesn't matter how 'dangerous' an assignment is; if it needs to be done, it needs to be done." His voice lowered, and his eyes dropped a bit. "This situation is no different."

"Realize, you do, that expect you to do this for us, none of us do?" Yaddle asked. The worry she felt for him was obvious.

"What _is_ it with you guys? I'm offering to take care of a problem that you aren't able to take care of yourselves without dire consequences; this isn't any different from my job as a Captain!"

"Wrong, you are."

Toshiro blinked at Yoda, who was staring at him. "What?"

"_Very_ different, this situation is."

"How?"

"If the Chancellor really is a Sith," Master Windu said, "then the _first_ thing he'll try to do, _especially_ with someone with your kind of power, is lure you to the Dark Side."

…_Oh_. Right. The "Dark Side".

"Tell you now, I will, that only a small taste of the Dark Side you received during your battle with Dooku," Yoda said. "Only an apprentice, Dooku was. A Sith _master_ you are going up against. Uncover and exploit _every single weakness_ that he possibly can, and in the most persuasive, cunning way, he will. Attack your weaknesses _and_ your strengths, he will. If through one route, turn you, he cannot, another route, he will find, until every single vulnerability in you, he has exploited. Then, if able to defeat him after that, you are not, kill you in the most painful, horrific way possible, he will."

Yoda's words were said with such stark certainty that there was little doubt in Toshiro's mind that the old gnome was speaking strictly from personal experience. Toshiro swallowed, taking a moment to fully digest what Yoda had said. With everything that had happened in this dimension, was Toshiro _really_ ready to take on a full-frontal attack of his emotions?

When the Grand Master spoke again, his stark tone was mixed with concern. "Still want to go through with this, do you?"

Toshiro closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded. "I have to. Not just for you guys, but… I need to know for myself, that I can resist whatever he throws at me."

The room filled with a heavy sense of reverence. Yoda closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. "If your choice, that is…" He opened his eyes, gazing directly at Toshiro. "…then believe in you, and help you prepare in any way we can, we will."


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Toshiro sat on the window seat in his room, gazing out at the evening sky, waiting for his dinner to come. It had been decided that he would wait for cover of darkness. In the meantime, he was using everything he knew and had been taught about himself, his emotions, his motives, and his past to assess his current mental-emotional state. Any thought or recollection that brought pain, fear, or anger was immediately put on trial. He racked himself over the coals and back until he felt that he could resist any attack on that particular weakness. Tears had been shed a few times, but that didn't bother him anymore. He was beginning to realize that "adults and/or Captains don't cry" was just about one of the stupidest beliefs he'd ever had. Crying didn't make him weak; holding onto all of these negative thoughts, beliefs, memories, and feelings is what weakened him.

He had been given a "comlink" that had a direct line to Yoda, just in case. He hadn't used it yet; hadn't needed to, thankfully. It wasn't that he didn't want to accept help from anyone (Yoda had definitely humbled him in that regard), but rather, he needed to know for himself that he could stand up to anything the Chancellor threw at him _on his own_.

He heard the door open. "I have your dinner," a familiar voice mumbled.

Toshiro turned to see Anakin standing in the doorway with a tray of food and a white bandage for a nose. Toshiro's eyebrows furrowed. "The heck are you doing here?" he asked.

Anakin shrugged. "I don't know. Master Yoda just told me to bring you your food." It was obvious that Anakin was _not_ happy with this assignment.

Knowing Yoda, Toshiro figured that there _had_ to be _some_ reason for this. He sighed, then went back to staring out the window. "Fine. Just set it down here."

Anakin set the tray down in front of Toshiro. Then he paused, turned as if to leave, reconsidered, and sat on the opposite end of the window seat. "…Thanks."

"For what?"

"The message, from my mom."

"Oh… yeah. You're welcome."

The two were quiet for a few minutes. "What's your mom like?" Anakin asked.

"Hn? Oh, well… I was raised by my granny."

"…You mean you've never met your mom?"

Toshiro shrugged. "No, but granny was pretty much a mom to me."

"Oh… well, do you miss her?"

Usually, Toshiro would've been annoyed by this point and would've asked (or ordered) Anakin to leave. But, since Yoda was the one who'd told Anakin to come here in the first place, Toshiro decided it best to just go with the flow of the conversation (which was a pretty big deal for someone who rarely ever had casual conversations with _anyone_). "A little," he admitted. "I get to visit her on holidays though, so it's not too bad."

Anakin stared at his feet. "Lucky. We never get to visit our parents."

Toshiro looked at him. "…'We'?"

"Mm-hm. Jedi aren't really allowed to contact their family until they're older, and even then, it's not exactly seen as a good thing."

"Oh… I see." Toshiro went back to staring out the window. Thoughts of his granny inevitably led to thoughts of Momo. He remembered the last time he'd seen her, right before he'd left for this dimension. He remembered the worry in her face, the uncertainty in her beautiful brown eyes…

_"You're… you're coming back… right, Shiro-chan?"_

"Who is she?"

Toshiro blinked at Anakin. "Huh?"

"The girl you're thinking about. What's her name?"

Toshiro's eyes narrowed. Sure, Jedi Masters could pick up on his thoughts, but a kid who's only been training a year? Then again, Toshiro himself had graduated from the Shinigami academy after only a year… "What makes you think I was thinking about a girl?" he asked.

Anakin shrugged. "Just the look on your face." He looked out the window. "I think it's the same look I get when I'm thinking about Padme."

"…Padme?"

"Yeah. She's the queen of Naboo."

"…The _queen_?"

"Yep."

"And… _how_ old is she?"

"I think she's fifteen. I'm going to marry her."

"…Right."

"What? Aren't you going to marry the girl you're thinking about?"

Toshiro could feel himself getting antsy. Which meant this was something he needed to put on trial. He stared out the window. "I guess… I'd like to, eventually, but…"

"…'But' what?"

Toshiro sighed. "I don't know. It's… just complicated."

"No it's not."

Toshiro sent him an incredulous look.

"You love her, don't you?"

"Yes…"

"Well then, why _wouldn't_ you marry her?"

"Because she might not love me back," he spat. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then stared out the window again. "Not in the same way, anyway."

"Why wouldn't she love you back?"

Toshiro's fingers curled into fists. He closed his eyes, swallowed, and took a deep breath. "I don't know. She just might not. She might fall in love with someone else, or something. And if she does, then I don't want to get in the way. I just… want her to be happy."

"Wouldn't she be happy if you married her?"

Toshiro wanted to scream. Which, again, meant that this was something he _really_ needed to work through. He took a few deep breaths before thinking through Anakin's question. It made him feel… sad, which was surprising. "I'd… like her to be happy," he said, "but… I really don't know. I don't know if being married to me… would make her happy."

"Why wouldn't it?"

Staring at the sunset, Toshiro couldn't help but remember how Momo used to go on and on and freaking _on_ about how "wonderful" Captain Aizen was. "Because, I'm not really the kind of guy she likes."

"So? You know how to make her happy, don't you?"

Toshiro blinked, then stared at Anakin. "…What?"

"You said you wanted her to be happy, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, if you love her, then you probably already know how to make her happy. And if you know how to make her happy, _and_ you love her, then why wouldn't you marry her?"

"I…" Toshiro stopped, then returned his gaze to the window for some serious thinking. Now that he thought about it, he _did_ know how to make Momo happy. He always knew how to cheer her up, how to get her to stop crying and put a smile back on her face. But, for some reason, he always felt like it just wasn't enough. Like he was missing something. But… _what_?

The door opened. "Anak-! Oh, I'm sorry," Obi-wan said, surprised to see Toshiro. "I was just, looking for Anakin… I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"No, not really," Toshiro replied.

"Oh… alright, well, come on Anakin."

"I'll be out in a minute," he replied a little too quickly.

Obi-wan gave him a stern look. "Anakin, you need to-"

"I said I'll be out in a minute!"

"The heck is your problem?"

Anakin blinked at Toshiro, as if stunned.

"Your _Master_ just told you to go with him. What part of following orders do you not understand?"

Anakin's mouth gaped, then closed, his eyes narrowing. He slid off the window seat. "No wonder she doesn't love you back," he muttered as he walked away.


	39. Chapter 39

[hides behind wall] Um... hi? ^^;;

Soooo... it's been awhile. Aaand I cringe at a lot of what I've written in this story so far (mostly from style & incorrect characterization). But... I want to finish it. And I already had this chapter written, plus the last chapter left off at an awful place, so... here you go? ^^'

By the way, I want you all to know that I still get excited whenever I see that someone has faved or followed or reviewed one of my stories. And I read every single review. So thank you all, so very, very much. Hopefully the rest of the story will be better than it has been up to this point. :)

Also, special thanks to Kisama-sama. :)

**Chapter 39**

Toshiro's entire being froze as the door closed behind Obi-wan and Anakin. Fear, anger, pain, _all_ of those emotions latched onto his heart like a pair of frozen claws. Fear that Anakin's statement was true. Anger at Anakin for making the statement, and at himself for behaving in a way that would prompt Anakin to make such a suggestion. Pain in the realization that Anakin's observation was most likely right.

He took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. _Calm down, calm down, calm down…_ He found his fingernails scraping against his forehead again. He was caught between screaming and crying. He gritted his teeth as tears found their way to his hands.

Apparently, this was the biggie.

This was the one issue that had been plaguing the back of his mind for decades. The fear that Momo, the one person he swore to protect with his life, the one person he would give _anything_ for, could never possibly love him back, simply because of who he was. There would always be _something_ about him that would keep her away: his age, his personality, his appearance, his power, _anything_ that seemed an irrevocable part of him, something he could never get rid of or change, at least, not without belying who he really was.

Sure, he knew how to make her smile. True, he knew her better than anyone else did. And yes, she was the only soul besides granny who hadn't been afraid of him back in Rukongai. But still…

He stared at the tray of untouched food in front of him. He'd lost his appetite, but decided that going hungry wasn't going to help the situation. He started eating.

He tried to make progress, but failed miserably. That first vision he'd had of his and Momo's future together, even the kissing one, popped into his head a few times. He tried to reassure himself with the recollections. After all, that was the future he _wanted_, right? That was the "path" he was going to choose… right?

Why was it so hard for him to reassure himself? These visions outright told him that everything would turn out okay, that there'd be a happy ending to all this. So why did it still seem impossible? Why was he still afraid that she might not love him, that she could never love him?

He finished eating. The comlink lay on the seat next to the tray. He heaved a heavy sigh. _Looks like it's time to use this…_

He pressed the buttons he'd been instructed to press upon receiving the comlink. "Yes?" Yoda's warm, smiling voice croaked.

"I… need your help, with this…"

"Hmm. A change of scenery, I think you need. In the menagerie, I am. Come, and talk, we will."

"Thank you. I'm on my way." Toshiro hung up, wiped his eyes and nose, and walked out into the hall.

.***.

Toshiro stepped into the menagerie. It was similar to the fountain room, but appeared to have less fountains, and even more strange and beautiful plants. He followed Yoda's reiatsu until he found the gnome sitting on a low stone wall in a somewhat secluded area, his legs crossed, and his cane laid across his lap. As far as Toshiro could tell, there wasn't anyone else in the room.

Toshiro sat next to him, hoping Yoda would just pick up on what he was feeling/thinking and start telling him all the answers, but having a sneaking suspicion that Yoda wasn't going to make it that easy.

"Troubling you, what is?"

"I… don't know. I mean, I _know_, but…" He paused. "I'm just… having trouble, convincing myself that everything's going to work out, with… with Momo… I mean, I know it will, I've had two visions that have made that obvious, but-"

"Another vision, you had?"

It dawned on Toshiro that he hadn't told Yoda about the kissing dream yet. "Well… I think it was a vision, anyway… I mean, I could be wrong, but… it sure felt like a vision…"

"What see, did you?"

Toshiro recounted the dream to Yoda. "…I just, _knew_ that everything was going to be okay, that she wouldn't, reject me, or anything. And I guess… that's what I'm really afraid of. No matter how many times I try to convince myself that it's all going to be fine, I just… I just can't get myself to really… believe, that she'll actually feel the same way."

"Hmm." Yoda sat with his eyes closed for a few seconds. "Care about you already, she does."

"Yeah, I know. But she sees me like a little brother, not like a Captain, or like a… potential…" He stopped, frustrated, a little angry, and hurt.

"How often speak with her, do you?"

"Well… usually, she'll stop by the office about once a day to drop off paper work, but other than that… not… at all, really… I mean, if we see each other then we'll say 'hi' and all, and I'll usually pick on her about something, but that… that's about it."

Yoda sent him a look of bemusement. "And wonder you do why a close relationship with her, you have not?"

Toshiro sighed. As always, Yoda had a point. "I know, but… I feel like, even if we did spend more time together… I don't know. I mean, I _should_ know because of those visions, but… I don't. I'm still afraid of something, and I… can't figure out what it is."

.***.

By this time, Yoda had pretty much figured out what the issue was.

For most of his life up to this point, Toshiro had been taught to build his self-worth on his achievements and his power. He had been punished for wanting to do the right thing, and praised whenever he gained more power, acted more "mature", and destroyed more enemies. Now that he was learning differently, now that his original values and way of viewing the world were being affirmed and supported rather than cut down and mocked, he simply didn't know what to think of himself. He was beginning to realize that his true worth had absolutely nothing to do with how much power he had. But then, he was asking himself, what _did_ his worth depend on? What else did he have to offer the world (and, more specifically, Momo), besides his power and achievements?

To make matters worse, he had been completely ostracized by nearly everyone until he had started gaining power and accomplishments. His talents had given him the only source of self-esteem and praise he ever knew. Now that they were gone, he couldn't see anything else in himself that was worth praise, and most certainly nothing that was worth the affection of a particular young lady.

It only took about two seconds for Yoda to come up with a quick, yet powerful way to remedy this.

.***.

"Tell me something, will you?"

"Okay."

"What like about yourself, do you?"

Toshiro blinked. "What… do I _like_ about myself?"

Yoda nodded. "Yes."

Out of all the seemingly random questions Yoda had asked him over the past few days, this was the most bizarre in context. What did he _like_ about himself? Really? _That_ was the magic question?

Then again, this was Yoda.

Toshiro thought. And thought. And thought. He couldn't come up with anything. He knew what everyone else always said: child genius, very mature, gets his work done (and usually Rangiku's, too) on time, great leader, youngest captain, and on and on the list went. But when he tried to come up with something _he_ genuinely liked about himself… he couldn't think of a single thing.

…Was that a bad thing?

"I… don't know," he admitted. "I… can't think of anything…" Toshiro's heart sank. He couldn't think of a _single thing_ that he liked about himself? That… was beyond disheartening. Beyond depressing. Beyond… well, _pathetic_.

Yoda smiled. "In that case, want you to try something, I do."

_…Oh boy._ "What?"

"Call Momo, and ask what likes about you, she does."


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Toshiro's eyes shot open. "_What?_"

Yoda chuckled. "Heard me, you did."

Toshiro gaped at Yoda. He couldn't believe what the gnome was asking him to do. How the heck was he supposed to ask Momo that without sounding awkward – or worse, desperate?

"Trust her opinion of you, do you?"

Toshiro turned away. "Well, I guess, but… How is asking her that supposed to help? It's still someone else's opinion of me, not my own."

Yoda nodded. "True, that is. But if trust another person's opinion of you, you do, easier it will be for you to believe that opinion, whether positive or negative it is." He uncrossed his legs, letting them dangle over the edge of the wall. "Surprised you will be, I think, at what to say, she has." He slid off the wall and landed on the floor. "Find me when finished, you are." And away he hobbled.

Toshiro stared at the old Jedi Master as he walked away, still in shock at what he was being asked to do. He pulled his cell phone out of his haori.

There was no way he could do this without sounding pathetic.

He turned the phone over in his hands. What would Hinamori say about him? Now that Yoda had brought the question up, the young captain couldn't help but wonder.

He sighed. _Best get this over with,_ he thought.

.***.

Momo was sitting in her room after dinner when her phone rang. She saw it was Toshiro and, trying not to think about the horrible "vision" he'd had, answered. "Hello?"

"Hinamori…" He was quiet for a while.

"What is it, Hitsugaya-kun?" The fact that he wasn't picking on her right off the bat told her that something was wrong. Was he still worried about the "vision"?

Again he was quiet. Finally, he spoke, his voice softer than usual, but stoic. "What do you like about me?"

Momo was caught completely off guard. Asking such a question… That wasn't like him at all! "Hitsugaya-kun, are you okay?" What on earth was going on? Why was he so-

"Just answer the question, please." He sounded… tired.

She paused. "Hitsugaya-kun, you're acting strange."

"Would you just answer the question?" Now he was annoyed.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"Just, don't worry about it!"

"Quit telling me not to worry about it!" The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. "You're acting really strange like you're really upset about something and you're not telling me what it is and I'm your friend and you're not telling me what's bothering you!"

.***.

He didn't know what to say.

He couldn't recall a time when her rants actually bothered him. But this one, the things she said and the way she just exploded without him deliberately provoking her, really hit him hard. He could tell she was really, _really_ upset that he wasn't telling her everything.

But how could he tell her?

"Hitsugaya-kun, how come you're not telling me what's bothering you?"

He paused. "Because I don't want you to worry about me all the time. I am a captain you know, I can take care of myself."

"But Hitsugaya-kun is still my friend!"

That was true, but Toshiro had never been in the habit of telling those he was close to everything that bothered him. He even kept things from his granny (although she could usually figure out what was bugging him anyway).

"And…" Momo hesitated. "And even though you're a captain you're still a kid! You still get scared about things even though you don't show it and you still have a lot of growing up to do and there's still a lot of things you don't know about because you're not old enough yet and I wish you'd just-" She stopped.

No wonder she'd hesitated; she knew how much he hated being called a kid, yet she still went off on a rant about it. Toshiro fought his knee-jerk reaction to be angry; instead, he decided to try what he'd been doing with Yoda: actually listening to and thinking about what she said.

"…_and I wish you'd just-"_

"Just what?" he asked. What did she want him to do? Was it something she'd just kept locked away because… well, because?

Momo was sniffling. "You never act like a little boy anymore. Before you became a Shinigami, you… you were always complaining about how boring it would be to be a Shinigami, and you were always acting like a complete brat and… I always had so much fun with you. You did whatever you wanted and you didn't care about what other people thought of you. Well, except your Granny, but you were always so nice to her and you were so sweet and then you'd turn around and be a complete brat to me." She giggled through the sniffles. "I… I really miss that, Shiro-chan. I miss that part of you and I don't what happened to it…"

Toshiro couldn't believe his ears. She actually _wanted_ him to… to act like a little kid? But… but that made no sense! He was a captain! Wasn't _that_ what she wanted, a strong captain she could gush over all day? Hadn't she been the one to get on his case about "being disrespectful" when he didn't address Aizen as "Captain Aizen" (and right after calling him "Hitsugaya-kun", no less)?

He replayed her words in his mind. "You're wrong," he said quietly. "I did care what people thought of me. It's just that I knew what they all thought about me and I didn't know how to change it, so after a while I just stopped trying."

Momo was quiet for a while. "I don't understand… How could you know what everyone thought of you? Junrian is a big place, and you were really little-"

"Everyone ran away from me." It surprised him that she didn't know. "No one would come near me except you and Granny. And I overheard a lot of people talking about how I was 'just like ice'." He paused. "There was one time where a group of kids ran away from me even though I was trying to give them their ball back. So no, I'm not just making this up."

"I'm so sorry, Hitsugaya-kun, I… I had no idea that you were being treated like that. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew. I figured your other friends probably talked to you about me behind my back."

"No, they didn't. But… now that I think about it, they never really seemed to want to talk about you at all. I remember I would say something about you or something we did together, and they would always try to change the subject. I never understood why they did that, but if what you're saying is true, then…"

He paused. "Hinamori, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time."

"What is it?"

"Why weren't you afraid of me? And why did you keep spending time with me when all I ever did was pick on you and tell you to never come back?"

She hesitated. "I thought you were joking when you told me to never come back?"

"Well… Yes and no." He paused, thinking. "I did want you to come back, but I didn't want you to know that I wanted you to come back. I thought…" He sighed. "I thought that you were going to stop hanging out with me anyways, just like everyone else. And when you didn't, when you kept hanging out with me no matter what I said or did to you, I… guess I just didn't know what to make of it."

Momo was quiet for a moment. "So, all that time, everything you said to me… You were just testing me? To see if I would still be nice to you?"

"More like… I was trying to protect myself from something I was certain would happen."

Her voice softened. "So… you were scared. All that time, you… were afraid that I'd start treating you the same way everyone else did."

"Exactly."

.***.

"_Hitsugaya-kun!"_

_His arm was shaking. Burnt and tired from firing off kido after kido. Tears fell from his eyes, relentless and stubborn._

"_Ah! Here you are!" She looked around. "Where's Kusaka-kun?"_

"_Kusaka's dead." He lowered his arm._

_A gasp. "Wha…? What happened?"_

"_I don't want to talk about it." What was Momo doing here?_

"_Hitsugaya-kun…"_

"_Leave me."_

"_But-!"_

"_I… I need some time alone… Hinamori." Not "Momo" anymore. Too casual, too familiar. Too close to his shattered remnant of a heart._

_A sigh. "Okay. But you be sure and come to me if you need anything, okay?"_

_He gave her a stiff nod._

_She left._

_He turned around. Momo. His friend._

_His only friend._

_The one person he knew would never turn on him, try to kill him the way Kusaka had. The one person who still ran towards him when everyone else ran away._

_The one person he longed to protect._

_He picked up Hyourinmaru off the ground. His hands shook as he held the sheathed blade in front of him._

_Not her._

_He made a vow, right then and there: Momo would never die. Not on his watch. No one would ever hurt her and get away with it. He would protect her. She would be safe. Always and forever._

_Because his broken heart couldn't handle losing the only friend he had left._

.***.

"You know, Hitsugaya-kun… I never understood why you didn't have any other friends in Junrian. And I don't understand why anyone would be afraid of you, especially when you were just a little boy."

That flashback came out of nowhere. Toshiro tried to push it out of his mind and focus on what Momo was saying, but it was difficult. It was like everything he'd ever felt was suddenly bubbling up to the surface.

"Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Sorry." He paused, struggling to remember why he even called her in the first place.

"Please tell me what's going on, Hitsugaya-kun."

He thought for a minute. Telling her everything would take too long, but he had to tell her something. "Emotions in this dimension are powerful," he said, "and some are dangerous. The people here – most of the ones with high spirit power are called Jedi – are helping me adjust to this place. That includes helping me work through and 'let go' of the negative emotions I have."

Momo was quiet for a moment. "Is that why you asked me what I like about you?"

He felt himself blush. "Yeah." It was weird, being so open and… vulnerable, with her. He'd always wanted her to see him as being strong. But… was that the wrong thing to do? Was it better for him to be this open with her, even if it made him look like a weak, helpless crybaby?

"I… don't know if I can put that into words, Hitsugaya-kun. I really care about you a lot, and having you as a friend really means a lot to me."

_Friend._ The word stood out to him, so he made a mental note of it.

"I like how you can always make me smile, even when I'm really upset and crying."

_Make her smile._

"And I like how sweet you are to your Granny."

_Nice to Granny._

"And… there's more to it than that, but I can't think of anything else right now. Like I said, it's really hard for me to put into words what I like about you. I guess… you've always had a warm heart, and I know you keep it hidden from people, but it's still there and… I guess, that's what I like about you, Shiro-chan. I'm sorry, I know it wasn't a very long list, but, does that help?"

Tears.

Freaking, blasted tears.

He wiped his eyes, struggling to keep his voice steady. "Yeah. That helps a lot, thank you." A _warm heart_? He'd _never_ been described like that before! He had no idea how to respond to that, or even what to make of it. Him? Warm heart? It just… it was so strange!

And yet, somewhere deep inside his soul, he knew it was the truth.

"Oh good," Hinamori said. "I'm glad I could help, Hitsugaya-kun. Is there anything else you need to talk about?"

"No."

"Okay. I, guess I'll let you go, then. I'm really happy we got to talk like this, Hitsugaya-kun. "

"Yeah. Me too." As awkward as it felt, being open with her like this was… surprisingly refreshing.

"Goodnight, Hitsugaya-kun."

"Goodnight." He waited for her to hang up, then slowly closed his phone.


End file.
